more about “Natura Algarve na TVI“, posted with vodpod

Nowadays few people consider finding their way in unfamiliar areas a problem as a GPS (Global Positioning System) combined with some simple map software can easily tell you how to get from A to B. Although this opportunity has only become available during the last decade, recent experiments show that long-distance migrating animals had already solved this problem.

 Even after displacement over thousands of kilometres to previously unknown areas, experienced but not first time migrant birds quickly adjust their course toward their destination, proving the existence of an experience-based GPS in these birds. Determining latitude is a relatively simple task, even for humans, whereas longitude poses much larger problems. Birds and other animals however have found a way to achieve this, although we do not yet know how.

Possible ways of determining longitude includes using celestial cues in combination with an internal clock, geomagnetic cues such as magnetic intensity or perhaps even olfactory cues. Presently, there is not enough evidence to rule out any of these, and years of studying birds in a laboratory setting have yielded partly contradictory results.

We suggest that a concerted effort, where the study of animals in a natural setting goes hand-in-hand with lab-based study, may be necessary to fully understand the mechanism underlying the long-distance navigation system of birds.

As such, researchers must remain receptive to alternative interpretations and bear in mind that animal navigation may not necessarily be similar to the human system, and that we know from many years of investigation of long-distance navigation in birds that at least some birds do have a GPS – but we are uncertain how it works.

^{source: The birds GPS- long range navigation in migrans; Thorup and Holland, Journal of Experimental Biology, 2009, 212: 3597-3604} 

CEAI (Center of Studies for the Ibirean Avifauna) is the promotor of this value project.

The main goal is to help the conservation of Bonelli’s eagle, by acting upon the threats which affect the tree nesting population of Southern Portugal. Therefore, the project aims to:

• Decreasing adult and juvenile mortality and increasing productivity, thus having a positive influence on the species population dynamics.
• Improving habitat management by creating more favorable conditions for the target species and, subsequently, for other priority species.
• Monitoring the Bonelli’s eagle population targeted by the project.
• Involving stakeholders who act upon the landscape (farmers, hunters, foresters, central/regional/local administration officers and businessmen) in conservation actions, assigning them significant and valued roles and, therefore, mobilizing these members of the community to take an active part on the conservation of biodiversity in general and of the target species in particular.
• Increasing public awareness about the need and importance of making economic activities and nature conservancy compatible, by passing on concepts and values like biodiversity, the Natura 2000 network and sustainable development.
• Demonstrating the value of natural heritage and traditional activities, as well as the economic and social relevance of their preservation.
• Promoting complementary regulations based on the achievements of the project actions.

Learn more about this project here.

We have a school program, where they join us for the “World of Birds” and other didactic activities.

Gralha de nuca cinzenta, upload feito originalmente por Natura Algarve.

Researchers from the Groningen University record a flight of 6000Km of a sanderling from Norway to Ghana, in less than five days.  This bird, with a departure with of 100g was ringed and photographed in the south Norway. Five days later it was found on the peaceful1 beaches of Ghana, Occidental Africa.

Easily recognized by its behaviors in front of the waves, these birds are very popular in the Europe’s shores, easy to approach, running along with the walkers along the beaches. Information about the sanderlings is needed to help protect this migratory bird and the areas on which it is dependent. Ringed birds are an extreme help to learn more about their ecology and their survival chances.

Source: International Wader Study Group

In here you can find more about this project.

boat tour in Ria Formosa Natural Park

Ria Formosa has 5 barrier islands and two peninsulas. On the inside, you have a labyrinth of channels and marshland. It has an enormous biodiversity and is the main stopover for the migratory birds in the South of Portugal. This is a protected area considered a Natural Park, ZPE, ZEE and an IBA. Is the perfect spot to look for waders, gulls and terns. During the boat tour we will make a spot on the barrier island of Culatra, a unique fisherman’s village for lunch.

 Here you can see: golden plover, Kentish plover, ringed plover, spoonbill, little stint, dunlins, knots, bar-tailed godwit, wimbrel, turnstone, oystercatcher, Caspian tern, little tern, Audouin’s gull, flamingos and more.

Ibis, upload feito originalmente por Natura Algarve.

Taken in Lagoa dos Salgados last July.

After four years of intense work SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) has published the first Portuguese Inventory of Marine Important Bird Areas (IBAs).
Portugal is a haven for seabirds, with the archipelagos of Azores and Madeira hosting the largest populations of species such as the Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea or the Bulwer’s Petrel Bulweria bulwerii.

This inventory is the first of its kind in the world, as it includes not only coastal Marine IBAs, but also pure offshore areas identified for highly pelagic seabirds such as shearwaters, which live on the open sea. Those areas were recognised thanks to the deployment of tracking devices such as GPS-loggers. The Important Bird Areas (IBAs) Programme of BirdLife International seeks to identify and conserve sites that are critical for the long-term viability of bird populations. The Global Seabird Programme is taking the lead on identifying marine IBAs.

The publication will help other BirdLife Partners currently involved in Marine IBA Projects, as it contains a very detailed description of all the methods used and a Marine IBA designation step-by-step protocol.

source: Birdlife International and SPEA

credits: F.S

August in ending and the birds are arriving to Algarve. Spoonbills and Flamingos are in the marshlands of Ria Formosa, the redshanks and other interesting juvenile waders are everywhere. The Mediterranean gull as no longer his summer plumage (the black cap is now a small black spot) but the little tern is still around.