Maintaining normal behavioural patterns is an important component of captive breeding with the aim of reintroduction. We
examined the behaviours and daily time budgets in captivity of hand-raised black-bellied sandgrouse
Pterocles orientalis
provided with
food and water
ad libitum
, and compared them with published observations of wild birds in order to assess the impact of captive rear
–
ing and captivity on behaviour in this species. We observed a bimodal pattern of active behaviours in the morning and
afternoon, inter
–
rupted by a period of resting behaviours through the middle of the day when air temperatures typically exceeded 40°C. High tempera
–
ture accentuated the bimodal activity pattern by increasing the midday resting period and by decreasing the general level of locomotors
activity. Compared to birds in the wild, captive birds spent less time foraging (captive: 30%; wild: 53-58%) and more time preening and
dust-bathing (captive: 25%; wild: 7-11%) and resting (captive: 28%; wild: 16-22%), probably related to differences in food availabil
–
ity between captive and wild situations. The broad similarity in daily activity patterns of wild and captive birds, and our observations on
sexual behaviours and breeding in captive birds suggest that the behavioural routines of black-bellied sandgrouse are little affected by
being hand-raised in captivity.
The 2011 Red List of Italian breeding birds. The purpose of Red Lists is to assess the short-term risk of extinction in a given
taxon, and they are drafted according to guidelines produced by the IUCN. The guidelines make it possible to draft both global and regional or sub-global lists, keeping in mind the relationship between the populations being assessed and neighbouring populations. The present work results from the application of this methodology. It aims to update the previous Red List of breeding birds in Italy and to bridge the methodological and temporal gap that for many years has prevented Italy from availing itself of an important tool for bird conservation and planning. We considered a totol of 270 specie: 51.1% were classifed as Least Concern (LC),9.6% as Near-Threatened (NT),
while 27.3% are in one of the three threatened categories: 2.2% Critically Endangered (CR), 8.1% Endangered (EN) and 17% Vulnerable
(VU). The data for 3.3% of the species assessed was not suffcient to assign them to a threat category, and they were thus classifed as
Data Defcient (DD). Finally, three species that were classifed as Regionally Extinct (RE) in the previous Red List of Breeding Birds in
Italy were confrmed as such. A total of six species were classifed as Critically Endangered (CR), of which four are raptors (Lammergeier, Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Bonelli’s Eagle) and two are passerines (Sedge Warbler, Barred Warbler). At the level of orders,
Anseriformes is the taxon with the highest percentage of threatened or near-threatened species (55.6%), followed by Gruiformes (54.6%)
and Accipitriformes (53.8%). Unfortunately it was not possible to effectively compare the current Red List with the previous one, as there
are signifcant methodological differences between them. The current work follows IUCN guidelines for regional red lists, which had not
yet been drafted when the previous Red List of Breeding Birds in Italy was prepared. Nevertheless, it clearly emerges that the number of
threatened passerines increased from 21.7% to 31%. This fnding may in part depend on improved knowledge about population trends in
widespread species, or it may truly reflect the worsening of the conservation status of many passerine species over the last decade. Current knowledge on breeding birds in Italy has made it possible to classify the vast majority of the species that were assessed, in spite that
information is still limited for many species. In the immediate future, research efforts should target priority species for conservation and
species for which information is limited.
In order to evaluate the status of the Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygarus) population in the northern Marche region of central
Italy, a population which in recent years has been reported to be in a major decline and facing a severe local threat, we surveyed the species’ historical occupied territories and their suitable habitat. We recorded 11 Montagu’s harrier breeding pairs during 2010 and 12 breeding pairs during the 2011 breeding season. Our results are the frst evidence that the population of Montagu’s harrier in the study area
has increased during the last fve years compared to data in the available literature. We characterized breeding habitat in terms of land use
composition, proximity to other nests, building structures and altitude. The species seems to prefer breeding in the agricultural landscape,
while it mainly chooses to build the nest in patches of uncultivated, shrub and badland vegetation. We also noticed an increase in the altitudinal range of the breeding habitat of the species in the study area. We conclude that these behaviors may represent an improvement for
conservation of the species by reducing the effects of nest losses caused by agricultural practices and urban factors.
The migration of common quail Coturnix coturnix in Ancona Province (Central-Eastern Italy) between 2001 and 2007. The
aim of this study concerns analysis of the information collected on common quail Coturnix coturnix in Ancona Province (Central-Eastern
Italy) between 2001 and 2007. Data collection was carried out in two different ringing stations near the Adriatic Sea since the beginning
of April. One of the two stations was active until November, between 2003 and 2007. Differential migration from age and sex classes was
confrmed, even if with different patterns for each of the seven years considered. Biometric data concerning different age and sex classes
were also analyzed. Ringed quails weight was compared in different periods before and after the autumn migration period. Periods quails
spent in their capture sites were analyzed referred to self-recovery data. On the basis of recovery data, some hypotheses on migration routes of individuals overflying the Adriatic Sea coastline are presented.
Feeding behaviour and vigilance of the lapwing Vanellus vanellus in the coastal pasture of the Circeo National Park (Latium,
Central Italy). For two consecutive years (2008-09/2009-10) the feeding success and the vigilance activity of the lapwing Vanellus vanellus have been investigated in a wintering site along the coast of southern Latium. The foraging individuals spent 55.9% of time seeking
and capturing prey, 42.8% in vigilance and 1.3% in aggressive behaviour. The lapwing had a feeding success (prey/minute) on average
of 0.93. The density in the foraging areas did not affect signifcantly the feeding success. Individuals that feed in groups achieve a higher
success than those feeding alone. The time spent in the activity of scanning increases in conditions of low density, the number of actions
of scanning remains instead constant. The low feeding success is probably compensated by nocturnal feeding. The results of this survey
show how this behaviour plays a fundamental role in the daily energy balance of lapwing in the Mediterranean environment.
