Monitoring of colonies and provisioning of rooks with nest material as a potential tool for stabilizing colonies and increasing nesting opportunities in the countryside. Project report

Abstract

The rook is a species inhabiting open agricultural landscape whose non-active nests are also used by other bird species for nesting. It is the decline in rook colonies that has been posited as one of the reasons for decrease in the red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus) population in Slovakia since the 1970s. During the period from 2012 till 2016, four monitorings of rook colonies were carried out in south-western Slovakia (Diakovce, Nitrianska Osada, Sokolce and Tvrdošovce). In the colony at Tvrdošovce, supporting activity involving provisioning of rooks with nest material was under way from 2014 until 2016. While the colonies at Diakovce and Nitrianska Osada have been showing a slight decrease in the number of nesting rooks, despite larger interannual differences the colony at Sokolce has been showing an upward trend. The size of the colony at Tvrdošovce has been stable since the beginning of the supporting activity. This activity had a statistically significant positive effect on the width of rook nests. In 74 cases in the studied rook colonies we have recorded nesting by three other bird species – Eurasian kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 43.8%, western jackdaw (Corvus monedula) 39.7% and long-eared owl (Asio otus) 16.4%. In 2015 two female redfooted falcons were observed in the colony at Tvrdošovce.

What makes a house a home? Nest box use by West European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is influenced by nest box placement, resource provisioning and site-based factors

“…Additional research is therefore required to examine which materials are being used by hedgehogs within nest boxes, how this relates to material availability in the wider environment and how nest structure ultimately affects their behaviour and success. Such research would help to identify the most suitable materials which householders should provide, if this was deemed necessary ( sensu Slobodník et al, 2017 ), but also help to determine suitable box cleaning regimes ( e.g. , Tomás et al, 2007 ).…”

Trend in an isolated population of the red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus) at the edge of its breeding range (south-western Slovakia)

“…The small number of breeding pairs can be also linked to the decreasing numbers of rook colonies in agricultural areas. The rook is a species with negative population trends in this area (Mošanský & Trnka 2002) and rookeries are now rare (for more information on the status of the rook and on red-footed falcon-rook relations, see Slobodník et al 2017). Although this negative population trend has appeared since the 1970s (Danko 1990, Danko & Chavko 2002, the dramatic decline in the population dates from the end of the 20 th and the first decade of the 21 th century.…”