Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

Finalizado

Execution date:

2020

End date:

2021

Total budget:

51.903,00 €

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

36.325,00 €

The populations of red kites(Milvus milvus) in the Iberian Peninsula have experienced a marked decline in recent decades, being listed as end angered in the National Catalogue of Threatened Species in Spain and in different autonomous communities.

This decline has been even more marked in the southern regions of Spain, where recent studies indicate the risk of extinction of these populations in less than 20 years if urgent measures are not taken.

This project aims, through the reinforcement of the few remaining populations in southwestern Spain, to prevent the extinction of these populations and to increase both their population size and their area of distribution, facilitating the connection with other Iberian populations.

This proposal complements actions of the LIFE EUROKITE project, which mainly aims to reduce the unnatural mortality of the red kite in Europe, with coordinated actions in 21 countries of the European Union.

The general objective has been to obtain information and establish the necessary protocols and measures to guarantee the success of the reinforcement process of the breeding populations of red kites in southwestern Spain.

To this end, the following specific objectives have been pursued:

• Detection of areas of interest for the conservation of the red kite.
• Promotion of land stewardship.
• Identification of habitat suitability.
• Selection of the release site.
• Determination of methodologies for the release and monitoring of released birds.
• Supervision and advice on the actions carried out.

• Evaluation of habitat, trophic availability and threat control.
• Location and assessment of the release site.
• Comparison and selection of techniques used for release and follow-up.
• Creation of a scientific-technical committee.
• Inventory of points of interest for the conservation of the red kite.
• Increase in land stewardship agreements.
• Dissemination and communication of the project.

• Development of a feasibility study for the reinforcement of red kite populations in southwestern Spain. This document has allowed the evaluation of different aspects such as habitat conditions, threats to the species in the area or trophic availability, concluding that the conditions of the studied area are sufficient to guarantee the development of the reinforcement of red kite populations.
• Study of the possible release points, characterizing three points as potential due to their conditions.
• Comparison of the different techniques used for the release and monitoring of this species in past experiences, proposing hacking as a release method and the use of GPS-GSM devices together with wing tags with alphanumeric codes for the monitoring of the species in the treated reinforcement.
• Identified 13 sites of interest for the conservation of red kites in the study area (9 winter roosts and 4 feeding sites for necrophagous birds), detecting an area in the southwest of the province of Badajoz with a high presence of red kites during the winter.
• Signed a land stewardship agreement, incorporating 124.48 ha to the surface area of the network of properties that AMUS manages in the south of the province of Badajoz.