From LPO, the African Birding weblist & Birdlife International
Surveys reveal raptor ‘super-roost’
26-04-2007
Surveys in Senegal by LPO (BirdLife in France) have revealed a single roost containing
over 28,600 Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni and 16,000 African Swallow-tailed Kite
Chelictinia riocourii – one of the largest bird of prey roosts ever found.
“One evening, I saw the passage of some 300 birds flying over,” said Philippe Pilard of LPO,
who discovered the site in January 2007. “The next evening I saw 1,300 falcons fly over. I therefore
decided to follow them, which was only possible on foot.”
“I first walked 10 kilometres -even crossing rivers by canoe- and finally found the
Lesser Kestrel roost, along with the African Swallow-tailed Kites.”
The existence of communal roosts during the non-breeding season -sometimes
involving several thousand individuals- has been observed in a number of
different countries including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. However
conservationists have described this enormous roost -altogether some 45,000
insectivorous raptors- as exceptional.
Full story at http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/04/raptor_super_roost.html
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