Some days ago our monitoring season at the Strait of Messina, ended. We counted about 18000 migrating raptors belonging to 19 different species from a single watchpoint located on the continental side of the Strait.
The commonest species were, as usual, honey buzzards, marsh harriers and black kites. Among the rare species one saker falcon, one imperial eagle and one lesser-spotted eagle. Moreover a good numbers of ospreys (49 individuals) some booted eagles, short-toed eagles and pallid harriers. Among non raptor species some tens of white and black storks, 1641 bee-eaters, 7 dottorels some rollers and herons. The nocturnal migration of passerines recorded by our radars was very intense, with different migratory peaks.
Lower numbers were observed on the Sicilian side of the Strait where in any case the nocturnal migration was relevant. Among observed birds some hundreds of marsh harriers and 860 bee-eaters.
On our website (powered by Trektellen) you can find our detailed count: straitobservatory.com
I take this chance to say thanks to the people who worked with us and even more to the volunteers.
In the end I mention that there is opportunity to support the activity at the Strait of Messina in 2017 through a donation, of even few euros, through a crowdfunding project promoted by our associations together with the University of Pavia. If you would like to support us, please visit the following website: wings over the Strait
