Bird Census News Journal of the European Bird Census Council www.ebcc.info 2015 Volume 28 n°1 Bird Census News 2015, volume 28 n° 1 (published March 2016) ISSN 1381-5261 Free download pdf from www.ebcc.info Bird Census News is the Journal of the European Bird Census Council or EBCC. The EBCC exists to promote the organisation and development of atlas, census work and population studies in all European countries; it promotes communication and arranges contacts between organisations and individuals interested in census and atlas work, primarily (but not exclusively) in Europe. Bird Census News reports developments in census and atlas work in Europe, from the local to the continental scale, and provides a forum for discussion on methodological issues. CHIEF EDITOR: Anny Anselin Research Institute for Nature and Forest, INBO Kliniekstraat 25, B-1070 Brussels, Belgium Anny.Anselin inbo.be EDITING TEAM: Henning Heldbjerg EBCC-DOF-BirdLife Denmark, DK Henning.Heldbjerg dof.dk Mark Eaton Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK Mark.Eaton rspb.org.uk LAY-OUT: Olga Voltzit Zoological Museum of Moscow Lomonosov State University, RU Voltzit zmmu.msu.ru Cover illustration by Toni Llobet Bird Census News is supported by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest, INBO, Kliniekstraat 25, B-1070 Brussels, Belgium. The INBO is a scientific institution of the Flemish Community Bird Census News 2015, 28/1: 1 Bird Census News Volume 28/1, March 2016 During the first week of November, CSO and EBCC organized the first joint workshop of the new Eu- ropean Breeding Bird Atlas (EBBA2), Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) and EuroBirdPortal (EBP) in Mikulov, Czech Republic. The workshop was attended by 96 participants from 41 European countries. For us, this meeting was a good opportunity to approach nationalcoordinators and propose them the possibility to present the status of their atlas or monitoring work in Bird Census News. The offer was received with enthusiasm and a number of the contributions appear in this issue. Some more will be published in the next one. In the first article, Christina Ieronymidou and co-authors present the Europeaned R List of Birds, a Eu- ropean Commission-funded project, led by BirdLife International and involving a consortium including the EBCC, Wetlands International, IUCN, BTO, Sovon, RSPB and CSO. In the European Atlas section Dimitrije Radišić and co-authors give an overview of the status of the breeding bird atlas activities in Serbia. Igor Gorban and co-authors present the Ukrainian contribution to EBBA2. It is the first time for both countries that breeding bird dataare collected at a national level, and the results are really encouraging! Danae Portolou learns us more about the Hellenic bird monitoring scheme in the section European Bird Monitoring. This project provides since 2010 species population trends and indices ot the PECBMS on an annual basis. In the Short Notes section Nuno Barros presents the innovative online and interactive Portuguese sea- bird atlas, and in the Books and Journals section you will find a review of the new Birds of the Giant Mountains atlas by Jiří Flousek. Finally, in the Events section you can read the reports of the EBBA2 training course in Ukraine and the Mikulov workshop. Enjoy this volume! Anny Anselin Bird Census News Editor 1 Bird Census News 2015, 28/1: 2 Anny Anselin Editorial .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Christina Ieronymidou, Rob Pople, Ian Burfield & Ivan Ramirez The European Red List of Birds ............................................................................................... 3–19 European Atlas News Dimitrije Radišić, Draženko Rajković, Milan Ružić, Slobodan Puzović & Uros Pantović Breeding Bird Atlas Project in Serbia ....................................................................................... 20–25 Igor Gorban, Tatiana Kuzmenko & Yuriy Strus Atlas of breeding birds in Ukraine: contribution to EBBA2 in 2013–2015 .............................. 26–29 European Monitoring News Danae Portolou The Hellenic Common Bird Monitoring Scheme ..................................................................... 30–33 Short Notes Nuno Baros Portuguese seabird atlas: so much sea, so many birds .......................................................... 34–37 Books and Journals Birds of the Giant Mountains — atlas of breeding distribution in 2012–2014 (Jiří Flousek) .......... 38–41 Events EBCC Board and EBBA2 Steering Committee visit Ukraine (Martin Kupka & Mark ton)Ea ................ 42–43 Three initiatives of EBCC meet for the first time in Mikulov on a joint workshop of EBBA2, PECBMS and EDP (Marina Kipson) .................................................................................................. 43–45 2 Bird Census News 2015, 28/1: 3–19 The European Red List of Birds 2015 Christina Ieronymidou, Rob Pople, Ian Burfield & Ivan Ramirez1 BirdLife International Wellbrook Court, Girton Road, Cambridge CB3 0NA, UK 1 [email protected] Abstract. The European Red List of Birds builds on two earlier assessments of the population status of all species at European level: the ‘Birds in Europe’ volumes. The main objective was to assess the status of all European bird species, for the first time using data reported by EU Member States under Article 12 of the EU Birds Directive, together with comparable data reported by NGOs and other collaborating experts from the rest of Europe. For every bird species native to Europe, apart from national population and trend information, the following data were compiled in the form of species factsheets: species’ taxonomic classification, map of distribution in Europe, ecology and habitat preferences, major threats, conservation measures and key literature references. At the European regional level, 13% of bird species (67 species) were assessed as threatened, with 2% (10 species) Critically Endangered, 3% (18 species) Endangered, and 7% (39 species) Vulnerable. A further 6% (32 species) were assessed as Near Threatened (Figure 3a). Within the EU 27, 18% of bird species (82 species) were threatened, with 2% (11 species) Critically Endangered, 4% (16 species) Endangered, and 12% (55 species) Vulnerable, and a further 6% (26 species) were Near Threatened. The results of the work contribute to regional conservation planning through provision of an up-to-date dataset reporting the status of European birds, identification of the major threats to these birds, and proposals of mitigating measures and conservation actions to address them. Introduction orating experts from the rest of Europe. This was achieved through very important collaboration Since 2005, the European Commission has finan- between EU Member States authorities, BirdLife cially supported the development of European Partners and other ornithological experts from Red Data lists for many taxa, including all terres- across the continent. trial vertebrate groups (available online at http:// The results of the work contribute to regional ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conserva- conservation planning through provision of an tion/species/redlist/). For birds, the regional Red up-to-date dataset reporting the status of Euro- List for Europe was produced during 2012–2014, pean birds, identification of the major threats to as part of a Commission-funded project led by these birds, and proposals of mitigating meas- BirdLife International and involving a consortium ures and conservation actions to address them. including the European Bird Census Council, Wet- lands International, IUCN, BTO, Sovon, RSPB, the Czech Society for Ornithology and BirdLife Eu- Data sources rope. The European Red List of Birds builds on two ear- The geographical scope of the European Red List lier assessments of the population status of all of Birds was continent-wide and included the Ca- species at European level: the ‘Birds in Europe’ nary Islands, Madeira and the Azores (Figure 1). volumes (Tucker & Heath 1994, BirdLife Interna- It was not possible to collate data separately for tional 2004a). The main objective of the Europe- Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, but in most an Red List of Birds was to assess the status of cases bird populations and trends were reflected all European bird species, for the first time using within the UK and France totals. data reported by EU Member States under Article Data for the EU were reported by Member States 12 of the EU Birds Directive, together with com- under Article 12 of the EU Birds Directive, which parable data reported by NGOs and other collab- requires that Member States regularly prepare 3 Bird Census News 2015, 28/1: 3–19 Figure 1. Regional assessments were made for two areas — continental Europe and the EU 27. and submit reports on progress made with the globally threatened or near threatened, accord- national implementation of the Birds Directive. ing to the International Union for Conservation of In 2011, the European Commission, in agree- Nature (IUCN) 2010 Red List. ment with Member States, revised the reporting National Article 12 reports included population procedure and frequency in order to focus the size data and population trends for two periods reporting obligations on information relating to (short term, i.e. 12 years: ideally 2001–2012; and the status and trend of bird populations, thereby long term, i.e. 32 years: ideally since 1980) for streamlining the reporting under Article 12 of the all