Summary: The Eurasian Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus is a large Palearctic, Indohimalayan and Afrotropical Old-World vulture. The species’ range is vast, encompassing territories from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas. We reviewed and analysed a long-term data set for Griffon Vulture in the Balkans to estimate the change in its population size and range between 1980 and 2019. After a large historical decline, the Griffon Vulture population slightly increased in the last 39 years (λ = 1.02) and reached 445–565 pairs in 2019. We recorded a gradual increase of Griffon Vulture subpopulations in Serbia (λ = 1.08 ± 0.003), Bulgaria (λ = 1.08 ± 0.003) and Croatia (λ = 1.05 ± 0.005) and steep to a moderate decline of the species subpopulations in Greece (λ = 0.88 ± 0.005) and North Macedonia (λ = 0.94 ± 0.01). However, species range contracted to half of its former range in the same period. It occurred in 42 UTM squares in the 1980–1990 period and only 20 UTM squares between 2011 and 2019 and concentrated into three source subpopulations in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia. Following reintroductions of the Griffon Vulture in Bulgaria, new colonies were formed at three novel localities after 2010. Regular movements of individuals between the different subpopulations exist nowadays. Therefore, preservation of both current and former core areas used for breeding and roosting is essential for species conservation in the region. However, the Griffon Vulture still faces severe threats and risk of local extinction. Various hazards such as poisoning, collision with energy infrastructure, disturbance and habitat alteration are depleting the status of the Balkan population and its full recovery. Further studies should analyse age-specific survival and mortality, recruitment, genetic relatedness, spatial use to inform the viability of this population in the future.

Shrubs are widely considered a threat to grassland biodiversity. We investigated the effects of shrub cover and grazing intensity on bird communities in sub–Mediterranean pastures in Bulgaria. The point–count method was used on 80 plots in open (< 10% shrub cover) and shrubby (approx. 20% cover) pastures under either intensive or extensive management (grazing intensity) from 2008 to 2009. We recorded a total of 1,956 observations of birds from 53 species. Main environmental gradients accounting for the bird community pattern were related to vegetation succession and land productivity. Bird species richness was higher in shrubby pastures than in open sites, while no effect was found in respect to total bird abundance. Bird species diversity (i.e. H’ index) was highest in extensive shrubby pastures. Shrubland specialists were positively affected by shrub cover and extensive management of pastures while grassland and woodland specialists showed no significant response to these factors. We conclude that a small proportion of shrubs within pastures may be beneficial for farmland birds and sustainable management of pastures could be achieved by greater flexibility of national agri–environmental schemes.

Roosting behaviour during the pre-breeding season is an important part of the Eurasian Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus life cycle. We demonstrate the importance of roost site selection and its relation...

La exposición a los pesticidas es una de las amenazas de mayor alcance para las aves rapaces. Recopilamos datos sobre envenenamiento de aves rapaces en 22 países europeos, abarcando 3196 incidentes de envenenamiento reportados que afectaron a 4437 aves rapaces envenenadas de 37 especies entre 1996 y 2016. Las aves rapaces más comúnmente envenenadas fueron carroñeras obligadas o facultativas, pero su contribución proporcional al número total de rapaces envenenadas varió de un país a otro. Los ratoneros, las águilas, los buitres y los milanos juntos representaron el 85% de las aves rapaces envenenadas. Sobre un total de 4437 aves rapaces, Buteo buteo (46%), Gyps fulvus; (12%), Haliaeetus albicilla (9%), Milvus milvus (7%) y Circus aeruginosus (5%) fueron las más frecuentemente afectadas por los pesticidas. De las especies documentadas, seis están amenazadas a nivel mundial y 15 están disminuyendo a nivel mundial según la Lista Roja de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza. En total, se detectaron 41 pesticidas de forma independiente, y 34 pesticidas combinados. Se notificaron carbofuranos y aldicarb en el 55% y el 14%, respectivamente, de las aves rapaces envenenadas con detección de una sola sustancia, y en el 57% y el 18% de las aves rapaces envenenadas con múltiples sustancias. Más de la mitad de las aves rapaces envenenadas con carbofurano y aldicarb se reportaron después de las prohibiciones comerciales de estas sustancias. El carbofurano fue el veneno más comúnmente detectado en cuatro grupos de aves rapaces con diferentes dietas. De 1589 aves rapaces envenenadas con carbofurano como sustancia única, el 88% fueron categorizadas como carroñeras facultativas. Los casos de envenenamiento con fechas conocidas alcanzaron su punto máximo en marzo–abril, con el 37% de las 3566 aves rapaces envenenadas durante este tiempo. El envenenamiento de carroñeros facultativos alcanzó su punto máximo en marzo–abril, mientras que la estacionalidad del envenenamiento en otras rapaces estuvo menos claramente definido. Concluimos que el uso generalizado de plaguicidas que afectan a las aves rapaces en Europa y la gama asociada de especies afectadas sugieren que pueden haber implicaciones para la reducción de los servicios ecosistémicos que estas aves proveen. [Traducción del equipo editorial]

The Saker Falcon Falco cherrug breeds in Turkey and also occurs in the country during passage and in winter. Turkey represents the southwestern range limit of the global breeding distribution of the species and is relatively isolated from the neighbouring population centres in Europe and Central Asia. A review of literature and other record sources indicated that the 19th century breeding population in Thrace had disappeared by the 1950s, in line with dramatic declines in the Southern Balkans. We could find no data on the Saker Falcon population elsewhere in Turkey prior to the 1960s. In the 1960s, the Saker Falcon was a rare breeding species found mainly in steppe habitats of Central and Eastern Anatolia. Despite increased ornithological recording activity in the country, the number of Saker Falcon records declined in the 1980s and 1990s, probably because of habitat loss, a reduction in the Anatolian Souslik (Spermophilus xanthoprymnus) population and the activities of falcon trappers. A recent resurgence in records since 2000 probably reflects an increase in ornithological recording by resident and visiting ornithologists. Our survey in 2007 confirmed that the Saker is a rare breeding species in Central and Eastern Anatolia despite there being much apparently suitable habitat and prey available in these regions. It is not clear whether or not the Saker population in Turkey is currently held at a low level by anthropogenic factors or whether the low population size is a characteristic of an isolated population of a species occurring at the edge its global distribution range.