url: ... · andra´s kova´cs, ubbo c. c. mammen and chris v. wernham european monitoring for...

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European Monitoring for Raptors and Owls State of the Art and Future NeedsAuthor(s) Andraacutes Kovaacutecs Ubbo C C Mammen Chris V WernhamSource AMBIO A Journal of the Human Environment 37(6)408-412Published By Royal Swedish Academy of Scienceshttpsdoiorg1015790044-7447(2008)37[408EMFRAO]20CO2URL httpwwwbiooneorgdoifull1015790044-744728200829375B4083AEMFRAO5D20CO3B2

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Andras Kovacs Ubbo C C Mammen and Chris V Wernham

European Monitoring for Raptors and OwlsState of the Art and Future Needs

Sixty-four percent of the 56 raptor and owl species thatoccur in Europe have an unfavorable conservation statusAs well as requiring conservation measures in their ownright raptors and owls function as useful sentinels ofwider environmental lsquolsquohealthrsquorsquo because they are wide-spread top predators relatively easy to monitor andsensitive to environmental changes at a range ofgeographical scales At a time of global acknowledgmentof an increasing speed of biodiversity loss and newforward-looking and related European Union biodiversitypolicy there is an urgent need to improve coordination ata pan-European scale of national initiatives that seek tomonitor raptor populations Here we describe currentinitiatives that make a contribution to this aim particularlythe current lsquolsquoMEROSrsquorsquo program the results of a ques-tionnaire survey on the current state of national raptormonitoring across 22 BirdLife Partners in Europe thechallenges faced by any enhanced pan-European mon-itoring scheme for raptors and some suggested path-ways for efficiently tapping expertise to contribute to suchan initiative

INTRODUCTION

Background Aims and Approaches

At present 64 of the 56 raptor and owl species that occur inEurope have an unfavorable conservation status (1) As well aspan-European concern for these birds in their own right manyof the species represent sentinels of ecosystem change at a timeof global acknowledgment that biodiversity loss is intensifyingat least partly as a result of climate change Raptors and owlsare valuable in this respect because they are top predators(integrating a range of specialist and generalist food chains)many are widespread across large geographical areas they arerelatively easy to study compared with other taxa and some areparticularly sensitive to environmental changes at a range ofspatial scales (2 3) Because of their position high in the foodchain raptors and owls are among the first organisms to showmeasurable responses to changing environmental conditionsand pressures Changes in their population size or demographicrates indicate changes (which may be adverse) in the environ-ment andor that differing competition for resources is arisingchanges that may be natural or anthropogenic but that may wellneed to be understood and acted upon Thus information thatthe monitoring of raptor populations provides is of environ-mental social and economic importance

In 1988 the Martin-Luther University Halle Germanyfounded MEROS (the lsquolsquomonitoring of European raptors andowlsrsquorsquo scheme) with the aim of bringing together and makingavailable the results of the many local and regional raptor andowl monitoring activities that were known to be taking placeacross Europe Still extant this scheme has achieved a greatdeal (see below) However it has also identified some of thechallenges of encouraging and maintaining such cooperation ata pan-European scale A workshop on lsquolsquoThe Development of aEuropean Raptor Monitoring Networkrsquorsquo (Sicily October 2006)

brought together approximately 30 participants from a broadrange of raptor-monitoring backgrounds across Europe theyagreed on the increasing applied need for greater Europeancooperation data gathering and reporting of raptor populationand demographic data to assist raptor conservation For thepresentation at that meeting BirdLife Hungary had coordinat-ed a questionnaire survey of BirdLife Partners across Europewith the aim of reviewing relevant projects in progress

The European Union (EU) recently updated its biodiversitypolicy and set key objectives to 2010 and beyond (4) One ofthese is to conserve lsquolsquomost important species and habitatsrsquorsquoincluding a large proportion of Europersquos raptor species and thehabitats in which they live A pan-European monitoring schemefor raptors would make a large contribution toward EU policyneeds in this context by

ndash building a strategic monitoring program based on standard-ized methods

ndash promoting effective and efficient information exchange andskills andor technology transfers between European coun-tries (with associated savings in time energy and funding)and

ndash providing timely and accessible trend information and policyadvice toward effective raptor conservation

Here we aim to summarize as best we can the state of raptormonitoring for raptors across Europe By lsquolsquomonitoring forraptorsrsquorsquo we mean the recording of information on populationnumbers territory occupancy demographic parameters andother related biological variables that contribute to our

Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca (Photo A Kovacs)

408 Ambio Vol 37 No 6 September 2008 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2008httpwwwambiokvase

understanding of raptor population status and lsquolsquohealthrsquorsquo Herewe specifically do not include monitoring environmentalcontaminant levels and related variables in raptors Althoughsuch variables also potentially contribute to knowledge ofraptor population health they are dealt with in a separatearticle in this volume (5) We include the monitoring thatalready feeds into the MEROS scheme and the results of theBirdLife questionnaire survey We then examine some of thekey challenges that face the maintenance and enhancement of apan-European reporting scheme and suggest ways that some ofthese challenges might be met in the future With limited timeand resources available for our review we do not profess topresent a comprehensive inventory of every project thatmonitors for raptors in Europe but it is our hope that weinclude some of the key projects that set blueprints for the wayforward Most of all we very much hope that this review willencourage those individuals and organizations that carry outrelevant raptor monitoring work in Europe but with which wefailed to make contact so far to make themselves known to usand that they will also be keen to participate in any futureinitiatives to develop a pan-European scheme

MEROS MONITORING OF EUROPEAN RAPTORSAND OWLS

At its establishment in 1988 the MEROS program (6)comprised 85 study plots and 100 volunteers Since 1990 ithas been continuously extended and today draws in informa-tion from 18 European countries Austria Belarus BulgariaCzech Republic Denmark Estonia Germany Hungary ItalyLatvia Lithuania Poland Russia Slovakia Slovenia Switzer-land Ukraine and the United Kingdom (Fig 1) These dataoriginate from almost 600 study areas and around 196 000raptor and owl territories (although only around 270 of the 600

areas supply data each year some information also dates backto the 1950s because historical data sets have been collated insome cases) Information is received for 26 raptor species (ofwhich 19 species are listed in Appendix 1 of the EU BirdDirective) and 11 owl species (6 listed in Appendix 1 of the EUBird Directive) (7)

MEROS encourages a survey-plotndashbased recording ap-proach designed explicitly to be suitable for raptors and owlsThe basic elements of the program comprise a stable network ofstudy plots (average of 120 km2 in size) and a dedicateddatabase that is routinely updated to hold the data securely inthe long term Fieldworkers participate voluntarily in theprogram on condition that they i) define a freely selectedstudy area that they monitor for several years (at least 3 years)ii) carry out fieldwork to define minimum scientific standardsto record and report breeding population numbers andorbreeding success (the number of young per breeding pair) andiii) use the same field methods and survey effort each year Anygiven study plot must be at least 25 km2 in extent but observersare free to select the size and shape of their area dependent ontheir selected study species and the structure of the local terrainThe survey methods applied are species specific and observersare encouraged to carry out rigorous work on one or a smallnumber of species within their study area rather than onlysemiquantitative work on a wider range of species

The Society for Ecology and Monitoring of Raptors andOwls has been responsible for managing MEROS since 2002and the program is currently funded by private sponsorsMEROS cooperates closely with many ornithological stationsMost of its volunteer surveyors are ornithologists but somehunters and falconers also take part All contributors receive thelsquolsquoAnnual Report of Raptors and Owlsrsquorsquo (8 9) which containsdetails of the numbers of records submitted in the relevant yeara list of contributors to the scheme and summarized population

Figure 1 EU member states thatparticipate currently in the MEROSprogram (since year shown)

Ambio Vol 37 No 6 September 2008 409 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2008httpwwwambiokvase

trend and breeding success information In addition MEROShas published 4 supplement publications on the scheme (10ndash13)and more than 30 research articles have been based on schemedata eg on Tengmalmrsquos owl Aegolius funereus (14) eagle owlBubo bubo (15) goshawk Accipiter gentilis (16) and red kiteMilvus milvus (17) Some analyses of trend information from thescheme have been undertaken (18) and comparisons madebetween reproduction of raptors in Germany and the CzechRepublic (19) MEROS hosts a scientific conference forscientific exchange every 4 years and publishes associatedpapers in proceedings (20 Mammen in prep) lsquolsquoFurthermorethere are irregular smaller meetings to present recent resultsandor to enlist new members

BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL STATE OF MONITORINGFOR RAPTORS IN EUROPE

The BirdLife International Partnership is one of the leadingorganizations in the monitoring and conservation of Europeanbirds of prey and owls (21) For the raptor monitoringworkshop (Sicily 2006) MMEBirdLife Hungary initiated aquestionnaire survey among BirdLife Partners about the currentstate of monitoring raptors in Europe The purpose of thesurvey was to get an overall picture of the capacity and extent ofongoing raptor monitoring activities of the European BirdLifePartners and by providing feedback to respondents to promotefuture cooperation among the respondents The simple ques-tionnaire was designed to answer the most important questionsabout any monitoring efforts (what where when and by whatmeans) by listing options on the target species area coveragefrequency of surveys and methods used Additional questionswere developed to gather information about individual markingof raptors management of monitoring data cooperation withother organizations and sources of funding

Altogether 22 BirdLife Partners completed and returned thequestionnaire (see Table 1) Based on the information gatheredthe majority of responding BirdLife Partners conduct country-wide monitoring of rare and threatened raptor species as wellas more common species and focus on their population size andtrend threats breeding success and distribution The mainperiods of the year for data collection are the breeding seasonand the winter months Half of the BirdLife Partners monitorraptor populations in important bird areas and in specialprotection areas Most of the Partners carry out total countscomplemented by occasional observations Besides the mostoften used regular (metal) rings approximately 30 of thePartners apply markers and tools (color rings tags andtransmitters) make remote individual identification possibleThe majority of Partners have developed their own commonmonitoring databases but in addition conduct some species-specific research Most of them cooperate regularly and shareinformation with other leading national and internationalraptor conservation organizations or expert groups within andoutside the BirdLife Partnership

We must stress that this assessment is based only on directcorrespondence with BirdLife Partners across Europe We havenot had the time to carry out a more comprehensive assessmentof other raptor monitoring initiatives Some important exam-ples of these are described in other articles in this volume (2223) A number of partners that responded to the questionnaireindicated that the majority of raptor monitoring in theircountry was carried out by organization(s) other than theBirdLife Partner (eg in Finland Romania Slovakia andSwitzerland)

CHALLENGES AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Key Challenges for a Pan-European Monitoring Scheme

for Raptors

The existing MEROS program provides an established andsound basis from which to build an enhanced truly pan-European monitoring scheme for raptors However experienceand knowledge gained from MEROS and the many nationalraptor monitoring programs (eg the Scottish Raptor Moni-toring Scheme [23] and the Finnish Raptor Grid [22 24]) mustbe tapped effectively to make timely and efficient progressBecause a number of raptor species are of immediateconservation concern andor are subjected to deliberate andillegal persecution by humans many raptor fieldworkers regardtheir data (particularly georeferenced location data) as highlysensitive This means that they need to be assured that the

Table 1 Results of BirdLife questionnaire about raptor monitoringactivities in Europe

No BirdLifePartners(of 22)

What do you monitorRare and threatened raptor species 19 86Common raptor species 19 86Distribution (presenceabsence) 13 59Population size (breeding)trend 18 82Breeding success 14 64Threats 15 68Habitat quality 6 27Habitat use 7 32Other 4 18

WhereThroughout the country 15 68Focusing on important bird areas 11 50Focusing on special protection areas 11 50Ramsar sites 5 23Focusing on areas protected at national level 9 41Outside protected areas 10 45Other 5 23

How oftenConstantly (throughout the year) 9 41Seasonallymdashbreeding season 17 77Seasonallymdashwinter counts 14 64Seasonallymdashcounts of migrants 10 45Occasionally 7 32

By what meansTotal counts 17 77Transects 8 36Point counts 10 45Territory mapping 10 45Synchronous counts 8 36Individual marking 8 36Occasional observations 13 59Other 1 5

Individual markingRegular (aluminium) rings 13 59Color rings 7 32VHF (radio) tracking 7 32Satellite tracking 5 23Wing tags 6 27Bleaching 0 0Other 1 5

Data managementCommon monitoring database 14 64Species specific database 11 50Species specific geographic information system 9 41Species specific research 13 59Data provision to other institutions

(eg state nature conservation organization) 14 64Regular cooperation

With other national raptor conservationorganizations 14 64

With BirdLife Partners 12 55With other international organizations 11 50

FundingMainly national funding 11 50Mainly foreign funding sources 6 27Mainly state funding 8 36Mainly private sponsorship 9 41


information they provide to any European scheme will bestored securely They also need to have clear explanation of thereasons for collation of the data and its value as an evidencebase for applied conservation science purposes and to receiveregular feedback on the scheme and uses of their dataLanguage differences make building this understanding moredifficult at a pan-European scale (as MEROS has identified)solutions need to be found by building effective relationshipsbetween any pan-European scheme and national coordinationpoints in each participating country or area so that the nationalcoordination organization can act as an effective lsquolsquobridgersquorsquo andcan interact with local fieldworkers in the local language In thiscontext it is also likely to be preferable for the nationalcoordination organization to collate and hold the raw datawith appropriate summary data only passing to the pan-European scheme to reduce the concerns of individualcontributors about their sensitive data being passed on to thirdparties

A pan-European monitoring program for raptors will bemost effective if potential exists to compare trends in the samespecies between different countries or regions because suchcomparisons can give clues to reasons for adverse populationchanges in some cases In addition national boundaries areartificial from a biological perspective and to show represen-tative population trends for many species cross-border data setsare imperative The selection of species to monitor as a highpriority will be a major challenge for any enhanced pan-European scheme National programs will all have their ownpriorities (see questionnaire section) generally a mixture ofspecies of high current conservation interest and widespreadusually more common species that often form useful indicatorsof adverse changes in the wider countryside There wasconsensus at the Sicily workshop in 2006 that any pan-Europeanscheme should as a priority concentrate on promoting high andcomparable standards of data collection among nationalschemes already in operation across a range of species and ontransferring skills and knowledge to help establish schemes forkey species of conservation concern in countries that do notcurrently have them Expanding species coverage in a moreproactive manner should become a strategic priority only oncean enhanced pan-European scheme is firmly established

Promotion of rigorous field survey techniques and recordingprotocols should be a core activity within an enhanced pan-European scheme Indeed this is a core part of the existingMEROS scheme A relevant field guide to the survey andmonitoring of raptors was recently published by the ScottishRaptor Monitoring Scheme (25) and provides a usefulblueprint for translating and tailoring for other nationalschemes or a pan-European version A useful Dutch guide toraptor monitoring also exists (26) Because most raptormonitoring is undertaken by volunteer fieldworkers the surveydesign must often achieve a balance between statistical rigorand pragmatism particularly in countries that have limitednumbers of volunteers Any enhanced pan-European monitor-ing scheme for raptors should valuably act as a lsquolsquoclearing housersquorsquofor the sharing of expertise between participating countriesorganizations and individuals

The recruitment and retention of volunteer fieldworkers tocarry out survey work is a major concern for MEROS andmany national schemes (23) older fieldworkers are retiring andit is not easy to find younger volunteers with the skills to replacethem and to maintain continuity on study plots in many casesThus support for motivating and training volunteer surveyorsshould form a core activity of any enhanced pan-Europeanscheme Although these are issues across Europe the Sicilyworkshop clearly identified that in general the countries ofnorthern Europe have less difficulty in finding both volunteer

surveyors and funding for monitoring than southern Europeancountries Although changing gradually attitudes to wildlife arestill very different in southern Europe with much wildlife(including birds) still being seen as a resource for utilization andwith little ethos of citizen science or volunteering establishedThus skills and knowledge transfer from north to south interms of educating the public about raptors and citizen scienceopportunities should also form a core activity of any enhancedpan-European scheme

Perhaps the largest challenge for any pan-European schemewill be long-term continuity of funding to allow the activitiesthat we suggest above to be maintained over time In thisrespect it is critical that the results from any such scheme are i)scientifically rigorous ii) well presented in a manner that istimely freely available and lsquolsquodigestiblersquorsquo to policy makersconservation practitioners and interested laymen as well asscientists and iii) that priority is given to making data collationand reporting as relevant to EU biodiversity policy andinitiatives as possible in addition to meeting national monitor-ing requirements

The Way Forward Models for Future Development

There are a number of existing schemes and initiatives fromwhich experience and expertise can be derived for a pan-European monitoring scheme for raptors MEROS (above) is alogical starting point in this respect The Pan-EuropeanCommon Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) (27) a jointinitiative between the European Bird Census Council andBirdLife International has established an efficient system forproviding population-trend information for more than 120widespread terrestrial bird species for the year 1980 onwarddrawing data from 20 countries grouped into 4 biogeographicalregions (28) Both MEROS and PECBMS have experienced andfound solutions to the inherent problems of centralized datacollation and the building of relationships with nationalcoordination organizations and have developed methods forcombining data sets collected by using differing methodologiesfor producing summarized trends (8 28) The PECBMS workon deriving biogeographical regions and selection of appropri-ate species for which to produce pan-European trendstherefore is relevant to any pan-European raptor-monitoringscheme The PECBMS currently generates European trends inpopulation numbers for 3 widespread raptor species commonkestrel (Falco tinnunculus) common buzzard (Buteo buteo) andEurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)

To make the information from a pan-European raptorscheme as timely and accessible as possible Web-basedapproaches both to data collation and results presentationmust be considered (at least for development in the future) Anumber of organizations in Europe are well advanced in thedevelopment of Web-based software for entering ornithologicaldata and have much experience in tailoring these to the needs ofvolunteer birdwatchers who often have a range of computerexperience and need appropriate guidance and training TheBritish Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in the UK now runs atleast 5 Web-based recording schemes (29ndash31)

Similarly a number of these organizations have developedcomprehensive reporting of multispecies population informa-tion and demographic trends online which are a logicalreference source when considering the form of outputs frompan-European raptor monitoring (27 28 32ndash35) Similarorganizations in other European countries also have well-developed on-line reporting structures (36) The EuropeanUnion for Bird Ringing (37) has a great deal of experience ofpan-European collation of bird-related data sets that shouldalso be considered in this context Few schemes have fully


embraced reporting in a wide range of languages howeverwhich is likely to be important (at least in summary form) toretain volunteer motivation at a pan-European scale

The first and most essential step in the development of a pan-European monitoring scheme for raptors is identification ofexisting relevant projects and expertise across Europe It is ourhope that the Sicily workshop and this review have gone someway to identifying a proportion of these existing activities butwe also hope that any organizations or individuals that carryout raptor monitoring but that are not currently known to uswill make contact and support us in an inclusive attempt toenhance current pan-European monitoring activities for thefuture

References and Notes

1 BirdLife International 2004 Birds in Europe Population Estimates Trends andConservation Status BirdLife Conservation Series No 12 BirdLife InternationalCambridge UK 374 pp

2 Sergio F Newton I and Marchesi L 2005 Top predators and biodiversity Nature436 192

3 Sergio F Newton I Marchesi L and Pedrini P 2006 Ecologically justifiedcharisma preservation of top predators delivers biodiversity conservation J Appl Ecol43 1049ndash1055

4 European Commission 2006 Halting the Loss of Biodiversity by 2010mdashand BeyondSustaining Ecosystem Services for Human Well-being COM(2006)216final EuropeanCommission (http eur- lexeuropaeuLexUriServLexUriServdourifrac14CELEX52006DC0216ENNOT) (httpeceuropaeuenvironmentnaturebiodiversitycomm2006index_enhtm)

5 Movalli P Duke G and Osborn D 2008 Introduction to Monitoring for and withRaptors Ambio 37 399ndash402

6 MEROS (httpwwwgreifvogelmonitoringde)7 Birds Directive Council Directive 79409EEC of 2 April 1979 on the Conservation of

Wild Birds (httpeceuropaeuenvironmentnaturelegislationbirdsdirectiveindex_enhtm)

8 Mammen U and Stubbe M 2003 Annual report 2002 of Monitoring Raptors andOwls in Europs Jahresber Monit Greifvogel Eulen Europas 15 1ndash101 (In German withEnglish summary)

9 Mammen U and Stubbe M 2008 Annual report 2005 of Monitoring of Raptors andOwls in Europe Jahresber Monit Greifvogel Eulen Europas 1819 (In press) (InGerman with English summary)

10 Gedeon K 1994 Monitoring raptors and owls basis and prospects for a long-termmonitoring of parameters and reproductive data Jahresber Monit Greifvogel EulenEuropas 1 Ergebnisband 1ndash118 (In German with English summary)

11 Mammen U Gedeon K Lammel D and Stubbe M 1997 Bibliography of Germanliterature on raptors and owls from 1945 to 1995 Jahresber Monit Greifvogel EulenEur (2 Ergebnisband) 1ndash189 (In German with English summary)

12 Weber M 2002 Examination of raptor status habitat structure and habitat change inselected regions of Sachsen-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Jahresber Moni-toring Greifvogel Eulen Europas (3 Sonderband) 1ndash114 (In German with Englishsummary)

13 Resetaritz A 2006 Winter ecology of the red kite Milvus milvus (Linne 1758) inNordharzvorland Jahresber Monitoring Greifvogel Eulen Europas (4 Sonderband) 1ndash123 (In German with English Summary)

14 Mammen U 1997 Population growth and reproduction dynamics of Boreal owl(Aegolius funereus) in Germany Naturschutzreport (Jena) 13 30ndash39 (In German withEnglish summary)

15 Lanz U and Mammen U 2005 The Eurasian eagle-owl Bubo bubo a bird in ascent foryears Ornithol Anz 44 (23) 69ndash79 (In German with English summary)

16 Mammen U 1999 Monitoring of raptors and owls claims and reality Egretta 42 4ndash16(In German with English summary)

17 Mammen U 2000 Decline of the red kite Milvus milvus from 1994 to 1997 in GermanyOrnithol Mitt 52 4ndash13 (In German with English summary)

18 Mammen U and Stubbe M 2005 Status of raptors and owls in Germany 1999ndash2002Vogelwelt 126 53ndash65 (In German with English summary)

19 Schropfer L Bures J and Ruzek P 2006 Reproduction of raptors and owls in theCzech Republic 1993ndash2000 Populationsokologie von Greifvogel u Eulenarten 5 41ndash53(In German with English summary)

20 Stubbe M and Stubbe A (eds) 2006 Population Ecology of Raptors and OwlsProceedings of the 5 Conference Population Ecology of Raptors and Owls in MeisdorfHarz in October 2002 Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle Wittenberg

21 Burfield IJ 2008 The conservation status and trends of raptors and owls in EuropeAmbio 37 403ndash410

22 Saurola P 2008 Monitoring birds of prey in Finland a summary of methods trendsand statistical power Ambio 37 416ndash422

23 Wernham CV Etheridge B Holling M Riddle G Riley HT Stirling-Aird PKStroud D Thompson DBA et al 2008 The Scottish Raptor Monitoring Schemeobjectives achievements in the first four years and plans for future development Ambio37 463ndash468

24 Saurola P 1986 The Raptor Grid an attempt to monitor Finnish raptors and owls VarFagelvard Suppl 11 187ndash190

25 Hardey J Crick H Wernham C Riley H Etheridge B and Thompson D 2006Raptors A Field Guide to Survey and Monitoring The Stationery Office Edinburgh 300pp

26 Bijlsma RG 1997 Final Study Manual for Raptors KNNV Uitgeverij Utrecht 160pp (In Dutch)

27 Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) (httpwwwebccinfo)28 PECBMS 2007 State of Europersquos Common Birds 2007 Czech Society for Ornithology

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Prague 24 pp29 BTORSPBBirdWatch Ireland BirdTrack project (httpwwwbtoorgbirdtrack)30 BTORSPBBirdWatch Ireland BirdAtlas 2007ndash2011 project (httpwwwbirdatlasnet)31 BTOJNCCRSPB Breeding Bird Survey (httpwwwbtoorgbbs)

32 Baillie SR Marchant JH Crick HQP Noble DG Balmer DE Barimore CCoombes RH Downie IS et al 2007 Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside theirconservation status 2006 BTO Research Report No 470 BTO Thetford (wwwbtoorgbirdtrends)

33 BTO Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside annual report (httpwwwbotorgbirdtrends)

34 BTOWWTJNCCRSPB Wetland Bird Survey report (httpwwwbtoorgwebsalertsalerts2008)

35 BTO BirdFacts Web pages (httpwwwbtoorgbirdfacts)36 SOOVON the Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology (httpwwwsovonnl)37 European Union for Bird Ringing (httpwwweuringorg)38 Acknowledgments We thank the respondents for their work during the BirdLife

questionnaire survey especially J Bang W V Bossche T Brinke J Cortes SzDaroczi T Dimalexis A Duncan M Dvorak M Eaton M Grell M Gustin MHerremans F Hirt D Horal B Jacoby A Kalamees T Lehtiniemi D Leitao PLorge C Mayr M Miltiadou R Nellis A Raine J Ridzon B Rubinic D SaveljicAD Sandor M Schaad O Sedlacek S Siryova S Spasov Y Tariel P Vorisek Wethank Ian Burfield and Richard Gregory for their contribution to the BirdLife andPECBMS sections and for additional useful discussions We thank Paola Movalli Dukeand her colleagues at Centre for Ecology and Hyrdrology UK and University ofPalermo Sicily for organizing the Sicily workshop that initiated discussions that havecontributed to this article We thank Anne Cotton (BTO Scotland) for administrativeassistance and BTO for providing staff time to assist with producing this article Most ofall we thank and acknowledge the huge contribution made by the thousands ofvolunteers who currently monitor raptors across Europe and hope that this paper willinspire others to get involved in future

Andras Kovacs is a qualified ecologist Andras has taken anactive part in the monitoring and conservation of threatenedeagles falcons and owls in Hungary for more than 20 yearsHe prepared his MSc thesis on the population ecology and therelationship between habitat quality and breeding success ofthe eastern imperial eagle Aquila heliaca He has worked forMME BirdLife Hungary since 2000 and took a full-time part in amonitoring conservation and research project for the easternimperial eagle between 2002 and 2005 He was lead authorand editor of the lsquolsquoEastern Imperial Eagle ManagementGuidelinesrsquorsquo for Hungary published in 2005 He is one of theleading people involved in the International Imperial EagleWorking Group working together with other BirdLife Partnersand nature conservation organizations in this field Hisaddress MMEBirdLife Hungary Imperial Eagle WorkingGroup 1121 Budapest Kolto u21 HungaryE-mail kovacsandrasmmehu

Ubbo Mammen has been the coordinator of the MEROSprogram since 1993 After previous positions at the Universityin Halle and in a nature conservation authority he worked forthe Bavarian Society for Bird Protection on a Corncrakeprogram Since 2005 he has been a member of the board ofthe German Bird Conservation Council (DRV) and the editor ofthe journal lsquolsquoBerichte zum Vogelschutzrsquorsquo Currently he works atthe University of Trier involved on the German WildlifeInformation System His address Monitoring of EuropeanRaptors and Owls Schulershof 12 D-06108 HalleSaale)GermanyE-mail ukmamment-onlinede

Chris Wernham has a background in population ecology andwas formally senior population biologist for ringing-basedresearch at British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and lead editorof The Migration Atlas Movements of the Birds of Britain andIreland during that time she worked closely with colleaguesfrom EURING (the European Union for Bird Ringing) on anumber of collaborative projects She took the role of seniorresearch ecologist and head of BTO (Scotland) in 2002 Hercurrent remit involves developing the BTOrsquos monitoring ofScottish birds and related research both in terms of thedesign and support of scientific programmes and the continuedrecruitment and training of volunteer surveyors She is BTOrsquosprincipal representative on the Scottish Raptor MonitoringScheme and the Research Group of Scotlandrsquos MoorlandForum Her address British Trust for Ornithology ScotlandSchool of Biological and Environmental Sciences CottrellBuilding University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland UKE-mail chriswernhambtoorg


Andras Kovacs Ubbo C C Mammen and Chris V Wernham

European Monitoring for Raptors and OwlsState of the Art and Future Needs

Sixty-four percent of the 56 raptor and owl species thatoccur in Europe have an unfavorable conservation statusAs well as requiring conservation measures in their ownright raptors and owls function as useful sentinels ofwider environmental lsquolsquohealthrsquorsquo because they are wide-spread top predators relatively easy to monitor andsensitive to environmental changes at a range ofgeographical scales At a time of global acknowledgmentof an increasing speed of biodiversity loss and newforward-looking and related European Union biodiversitypolicy there is an urgent need to improve coordination ata pan-European scale of national initiatives that seek tomonitor raptor populations Here we describe currentinitiatives that make a contribution to this aim particularlythe current lsquolsquoMEROSrsquorsquo program the results of a ques-tionnaire survey on the current state of national raptormonitoring across 22 BirdLife Partners in Europe thechallenges faced by any enhanced pan-European mon-itoring scheme for raptors and some suggested path-ways for efficiently tapping expertise to contribute to suchan initiative

INTRODUCTION

Background Aims and Approaches

At present 64 of the 56 raptor and owl species that occur inEurope have an unfavorable conservation status (1) As well aspan-European concern for these birds in their own right manyof the species represent sentinels of ecosystem change at a timeof global acknowledgment that biodiversity loss is intensifyingat least partly as a result of climate change Raptors and owlsare valuable in this respect because they are top predators(integrating a range of specialist and generalist food chains)many are widespread across large geographical areas they arerelatively easy to study compared with other taxa and some areparticularly sensitive to environmental changes at a range ofspatial scales (2 3) Because of their position high in the foodchain raptors and owls are among the first organisms to showmeasurable responses to changing environmental conditionsand pressures Changes in their population size or demographicrates indicate changes (which may be adverse) in the environ-ment andor that differing competition for resources is arisingchanges that may be natural or anthropogenic but that may wellneed to be understood and acted upon Thus information thatthe monitoring of raptor populations provides is of environ-mental social and economic importance

In 1988 the Martin-Luther University Halle Germanyfounded MEROS (the lsquolsquomonitoring of European raptors andowlsrsquorsquo scheme) with the aim of bringing together and makingavailable the results of the many local and regional raptor andowl monitoring activities that were known to be taking placeacross Europe Still extant this scheme has achieved a greatdeal (see below) However it has also identified some of thechallenges of encouraging and maintaining such cooperation ata pan-European scale A workshop on lsquolsquoThe Development of aEuropean Raptor Monitoring Networkrsquorsquo (Sicily October 2006)

brought together approximately 30 participants from a broadrange of raptor-monitoring backgrounds across Europe theyagreed on the increasing applied need for greater Europeancooperation data gathering and reporting of raptor populationand demographic data to assist raptor conservation For thepresentation at that meeting BirdLife Hungary had coordinat-ed a questionnaire survey of BirdLife Partners across Europewith the aim of reviewing relevant projects in progress

The European Union (EU) recently updated its biodiversitypolicy and set key objectives to 2010 and beyond (4) One ofthese is to conserve lsquolsquomost important species and habitatsrsquorsquoincluding a large proportion of Europersquos raptor species and thehabitats in which they live A pan-European monitoring schemefor raptors would make a large contribution toward EU policyneeds in this context by

ndash building a strategic monitoring program based on standard-ized methods

ndash promoting effective and efficient information exchange andskills andor technology transfers between European coun-tries (with associated savings in time energy and funding)and

ndash providing timely and accessible trend information and policyadvice toward effective raptor conservation

Here we aim to summarize as best we can the state of raptormonitoring for raptors across Europe By lsquolsquomonitoring forraptorsrsquorsquo we mean the recording of information on populationnumbers territory occupancy demographic parameters andother related biological variables that contribute to our

Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca (Photo A Kovacs)

















for Raptors

















































































for Raptors


































































url: ... · andra´s kova´cs, ubbo c. c. mammen and chris v. wernham european monitoring for...

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