An up-date check list of established and probable birds in the Bulgarian territory is given.
The importance of this area from a faunistic point of view is stressed.

This paper provides the first quantitative information on the diet of the Chough, Pyrrhocorax
pyrrhocorax, as assessed by faecal analysis. Fifty taxa (48 invertebrate and 2 plant) were identified
in subsamples of Chough faeces collected from under the roosting sites of adults and from chicks
in the nest on the island of Islay. Multivariate analyses of the data indicated that the seasonal abundance
and availability of prey items was the most important factor influencing Chough diet throughout the
year. Soil-dwelling Tipulidae (January to July) and Bibionidae (January to Aprii) larvae, dung-associated
insects (during the spring, and late summer and autumn), and surface-active insects (during the summer)
were the most abundant invertebrate components of the diet. The invertebrate taxa taken in numbers
by the Chough at any particular time of year compared well with those taxa found to be numerous
on pasture at that time (McCracken 1990). Cereal grains were the most frequently taken food items
during the early winter months, when invertebrate availability was low. The analyses provided an
objective grouping of these very heterogeneous data into useful groupings for further study and
investigation of the birds behaviour. Implications for the management of Chough areas are suggested,
with emphasis on livestock and pasture management and the maintenance of mixed farming including
small scale cereal production.

The diet and foraging rhythrn of the Little Tern were studied in the Comacchio Lagoon,
the Venetian Lagoon and the Po Delta, Northern Italy. Chicks were more frequently fed in the morning
and the evening than in the middle of the day. Freshwater fish and shrimps were more common in
the morning. The frequency of fish prey in different wetlands reflected the main habitat availability
within a 4 km radius of the colony.

The use of tape-recorded calls, lO locate woodland birds of prey, and its results are illustrated.
This method has been tested on: Buzzard Buteo buteo, 20 sites, Sparrowhawk , Accipiter nisus, IO
sites, Goshawk , Accipiter gentilis, 9 sites, Honey buzzard, Pernis apivorus, 4 sites, Black kite, Milvus
migrans, 3 sites, Red kite, Milvus milvus, 2 sites, Short-toed eagle, Circaetus gallicus, 2 sites and Hobby,
Falco subbuteo, 2 sites. The responsiveness of raptors lO the playback is related to the diff~rent stages
OL the breeding peri od (pre-laying, incubation, nestling). The best peri od was the pre-laying period,
and then the nestling periodo Ali species showed a very low response to the playback during mcub.atlon
and immediately following take-off. For Goshawk and Buzzard the most favourable period continued
during the autumn, expecially in the late auturnn, when there is an intensive territori al activity, after
the dispersal of the young which presumably marks the assertion of winter territories. This met~od
represents a valuable tool for conducting specific research and surveys. It also perrruts the location
of species which are difficult to identify during superficial or non-specific surveys (e.g. the Goshawk).