Armenia news 2010

Bird of the Year

Within its ‘Bird of the Year’ annual campaign, the Armenian Society for the Protection of Birds (ASPB) has announced the Common Crane Grus grus to be the Bird of 2010 in Armenia. ASPB had carried out a public opinion poll, and respondents mentioned six bird species, namely Common Crane, Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, Lammergeier Gypaetus barbatus, Eurasian Black Vulture Aegypius monachus, Caucasian Grouse Tetrao mlokosiewiczi, and Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni. (Source: ASPB Newsletter Number 11)

Lesser Kestrel breeding success

Research into the breeding success of Lesser Kestrels showed that 28–30 pairs of Lesser Kestrels bred in Gorayk IBA in 2009. Ten pairs occupied nest holes in the new artificial breeding tower mounted for these birds by ASPB. The Lesser Kestrels nesting in the cavities in the roof of a local TV tower in Gorayk are poorly monitored due to their inaccessibility. In the 10 nests placed in the artificial breeding tower, 26 eggs were laid and 23 chicks hatched and later fledged successfully. Additionally, about 11 juvenile birds have been ringed using aluminum rings in order to find out whether they will return to their breeding grounds. (Source: ASPB Newsletter Number 11)

Black Vulture movements

In August of 2009 the ASPB and Alexander Gavashelishvili (Ilia Chavchavadze University, Georgia) fitted a three month old Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus with patagial wing tags and a PTT satellite unit. This effort follows up on the juvenile vultures tracking programme launched by ASPB in 2006 using wing tags and satellite tagging units. Up to now, a total of four Cinereous Vulture juveniles have been tagged. According to the data received via satellite, the juvenile vulture tagged in August of 2009 stayed within Armenia until November and then began migrating in the second half of the month, when it moved near to the town of Morvarid in Iran. (Source: ASPB Newsletter Number 11)