Summary of raptor and owl ringing in Slovakia in the period from 2012 to 2019
Published Online: Apr 30, 2021
Page range: 45 - 72
Received: Nov 02, 2020
Accepted: Dec 28, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2020-0007
Keywords
© 2020 Roman Slobodník et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Between 2012 and 2019, 6523 raptors and owls (30 species) were ringed in Slovakia. The most abundant was the common kestrel (2811 individuals), then the western marsh harrier (664) and saker falcon (517). The proportion of nestlings among all the ringed individuals was 84.4%. In the given period, 340 recoveries of raptors and owls (23 species) were recorded in the ringing station database. This number included 160 recoveries of individuals colour-marked and also recovered in our territory. There were 83 recoveries of birds ringed in Slovakia and resighted abroad. The last 97 recoveries were of individuals ringed abroad and recovered in Slovakia. In summary, most of the recoveries (of all types) were of Eastern imperial eagle (62 recoveries), then red-footed falcon (51) and common kestrel (43). Most of the recovery circumstances were ring reading (44% in total), recaptures (15%) and findings of bird cadavers. Regarding raptors or owls, collisions with vehicles (5%) and electrocutions (5%) were frequent causes of their deaths.