EEA Coming Home to Roost ONE Romania

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Coming home to roost!


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Our Natural Europe making connections2

Coming home to roost!

It's early September and weare driving south from theRomanian city of Timioarato try to catch a glimpse ofthe red-footed falcon (Falcoverpertinus). If we are lucky,we hope to see one or twobefore night-fall.

Red-footed falcons aremedium-sized birds of preyabout 30 cm in length, with awing-span of around 70 cm.The male is mainly slate-bluein colour, but its pinkish-red

lower belly and legs give thespecies its name. The femaleis larger and mostly orange incolour, with a blue-grey back.Red-footed falcons do not build

their own nests, but take overthe nests of rooks (Corvusfrugilegus),most of whichvacate their nests in March tomigrate to the open fields ofthe Ukraine and Russia for the

The Pannonian biogeographical region is one of nine regionsof Europe included in the EU Habitats Directive. It stretchesfrom south of Timisoara along the Romanian West Plain to theHungarian-Ukranian border in the east across Hungary to the borderwith Austria in the west including the southern edge of the SlovakRepublic and the south-east corner of the Czech Republic to thenorth. The full Pannonian Basin stretches into northern Serbia andCroatia and was once a huge sea reaching its maximum extent2.55.0 million years ago. It is a now a major agricultural area dueto the rich loamy loess soil and favourable rainfall patterns.

Photo: Eszter at the colony where shewas bred in 2006 Pter Palatitz,MME BirdLife Hungary (www.falcoproject.hu)


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Photo: Timioara Orthodox Cathedral Gordon McInnes

summer. The falcons usuallyhave a clutch of four eggs eachyear that hatch in mid-May to

June. They are classified as'near threatened' in the IUCNRed List classification.

Up until the early 1990s, therewere thousands of nesting pairsof this falcon in the Pannonianregion of eastern Hungary andWestern Romania during the

summer months.

However, after these countriesbecame market economiesin the 1990s, falcon numbersbegan to decline, largely dueto a series of changes thataffected rooks and rook nests.These changes included the

intensification of agricultureand heavy use of pesticides insome areas, reductions in the

numbers of grazing animals,extensive removal of trees towiden roads, and campaignsto eradicate the rooks throughpoisoning by farmers angryat the loss of their crops. Asa result, rook populationsdropped by 90 % in the 1990s.The absence of rook nests

affected falcons, and less than1 000 falcon pairs remainedin Hungary and Romania bythe early 2000s.However,increased recognition of theimportance of rooks has led toconservation measures. Rooksare now strictly protected inHungary, and in Romania, they
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are protected from huntingduring the nesting season from15 August to 15 March.

We turn off the main roadand travel along a farm trackuntil we reach an avenue oftall poplar trees. The light isstarting to fade and we can seehundreds of rooks jet blackagainst the reddish-brownearth arriving in the fieldsclose to the avenue, but not yet

alighting in the trees. These arethe rooks that have remainedin Romania for the summer,and not flown to Russia or

the Ukraine. Suddenly a fewbirds alight in the trees andour guide, Attila Nagy, one ofthe experts working within theLife Project, and a biologistand environmental engineerworking for the Milvus Group

Bird and Nature ProtectionAssociation (http://milvus.ro/en/about), informs us thatthese are the red-footed falconswe have come to see. Whenwe look closely we can see thedistinctive orange plumage ofthe females or the red legs ofthe males highlighted in the

evening sun.

For nearly half an hour we arecaptivated by the inter-playbetween rooks, jackdaws(Corvus monedula) and falconsas they chase each other in thesky and scrabble over the best

places in the trees to roost.

Photo: Roosting site near Timioara Gordon McInnes

Photo: Red-footed falcon eggs in a nestbox Pter Palatitz, MME BirdLifeHungary
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Photo: Red-footed falcons at the roost Gordon McInnes

More and more falcons arrive,some settling in the trees,others keeping to the electricitywires and pylons. Eventually,as the final light starts to fade,there are around one hundredfalcons within view. But just aswe are straining to see whether

a bird is a rook or a falcon,both groups of birds begin toleave the communal roost andhead for the nests they built orborrowed in the surroundingfields, where they will sleepfor the rest of the night. Theevening roost is over and weprepare for the next part of our

journey to learn more aboutthe red-footed falcon.

The following day we visitKrs-Maros Nemzeti Park ineastern Hungary, about 150 kmnorth-east of Timisoara. Thepark is the lead organisation in

a cross-border 'LIFE' project toprotect the red-footed falcon.The Environmental ProtectionAgency of Bihor County and theMilvus Group are also involvedin the project on the Romanianside. At the park, we learnmore about the Pannonianregion, the falcon, and the LIFE


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LIFE is the EU financial instrument which provides co-funding to EUMember States and some other countries for scientific research,environmental and nature conservation management, awarenessraising and training in relation to EU environmental legislationincluding the Birds Directive. Since 1992 when the first LIFEProgramme was started, LIFE has co-financed over 3 500 projects,contributing approximately EUR 2.5 billion to the protection of theenvironment (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life). LIFE celebratesits 20th Birthday in 2012 with the organisation of a range of eventsand competitions. A special report has also been produced: 'TheVoices of LIFE: 20 year of getting things done' which focuses on theachievements made by the many people from across Europe involvedin LIFE over the past two decades (http://life20.eu).

project from Peter Banfi, one ofthe LIFE project managers.

LIFE is the EU financialinstrument that providesco-funding to EU MemberStates and some othercountries for scientific research,environmental and natureconservation management,awareness-raising, and trainingin relation to EU environmentallegislation including the BirdsDirective. This year, LIFE is

celebrating its 20th birthday.Since 1992 when the firstLIFE Programme started,LIFE has co-financed over3 500 projects, contributingapproximately EUR 2.5 billionto the protection of theenvironment. In 2006, a projectwas started under the LIFE

Nature Programmeto restoreto favourable conservationstatus the red-footed falcon inthe Pannonian biogeographicalregion and to strengthen theconservation status of the rookin the region. Falco vespertinusis listed in Annex 1 of the BirdsDirective on the conservationof wild birds, and is therefore'subject to special conservationmeasures concerning theirhabitats in order to ensure theirsurvival and reproduction in

their area of distribution'.

Project participants havedesigned, built and deployed3 400 nest boxes tocompensate for the reducednumber of rooks' nests. Theboxes were installed in trees oron posts in areas abandoned
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by rooks and attractive tored-footed falcons. Many of theboxes were adopted by schoolchildren in the region to involve

them in the project and to raiseawareness of the red-footedfalcon and the threats it faces.

Once installed, experts andchildren monitored the boxesto check if they were beingused. Often other birds such asthe long-eared owl (Asio otus)

would try to take over thenesting boxes, but would bechallenged and expelled by thered-footed falcons. Camerasand mirrors on poles wereused to check on the boxes,

count the numbers of eggs,and follow the progress ofhatchlings until they wereready to look after themselves

and migrate south for thewinter.

As part of the project, treeswere planted to replace thosethat had been felled, andeventually to provide suitablesites for nests. Proceedingswere taken against illegal tree

felling in 14 cases. The projectalso gained the cooperationof energy suppliers, andpurchased material necessaryfor the insulation of 400 kmof power lines in the mostcritical areas, so as to avoidelectrocution of birds.

Transmitters were also attachedto some birds, either to checkon their foraging and feedinghabits, or to track their wintermigration destinations. It wasdiscovered through the projectthat one of a pair of birds willstay in the nest looking after

the fledglings while the otherforages up to 3 km from thenest. It was also shown that80 % of the food collected wasinsects, mainly grasshoppersand locusts, but occasionallymore nutritious field volesor toads. Red-footed falconsalso prefer to catch food in

Photo: Red-footed falcon nestling in a nestbox Pter Palatitz, MME BirdLifeHungary


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freshly-mown meadows or cropfields. Meetings were thereforeheld with farmers to discuss thereductions in bird populations

and what they could do to helprestore numbers. As a result,an agri-environmental subsidyscheme was introduced inboth Hungary and Romaniato promote falcon-friendlymanagement practices over theperiod 20092013.

Use of transmitters in theproject also showed that in theautumn, red-footed falconsmigrated thousands of milesfrom the Pannonian Regionacross the Mediterranean Sea,Sahara Desert, and equatorial

rainforest to southern Africawhere they spend the Europeanwinter. They then return inearly spring to where they

started an incredible journey,full of risks from hunters andweather.

The Red-footed Falcon LIFEproject ended in 2009 butthe experts involved havecontinued the necessarymaintenance work as part of an

After LIFE programme.

On our final day, we visit Cefafish park, which is located inRomania's Bihor County. Thepark is part of both a SpecialProtection Area under the Birds

Photo: View from Cefa Natural Park across Pannonian Plain into Hungary Gordon McInnes
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Directive (the Kis-Sarret SPA),and a Site of ConservationInterest under the HabitatsDirective (the Del-BihariSzikasek SCI). The Parkprovides protection for a rangeof wetland flora and fauna of

European interest. We seeseveral of the nesting boxesthat had been installed on theedge of the fish-ponds andon trees and posts stretchingacross the Pannonian Plaininto Hungary. Many of theseboxes had been adopted bylocal school children who took

great delight in following up onthe fortunes of the boxes andthe falcons during the annualmigration to the area.

Both rooks and red-footedfalcons live in extended

communities where the twospecies interact and cometogether in communal roostsat sunset. Nobody knowsfor sure why they do this,whether it's for security oreven to exchange news ongood feeding grounds foundduring the day (see Mark

Photo: Red-footed falcons settle on power lines Gordon McInnes


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Cocker 'Crow Country', Vintage,London 2008). There areseveral collective nouns for agroup of rooks, which could

well apply to red-footed falconsparliament and storytellingclearly and graphically reflectsome of the ideas for the roleof these roosts? Regardless ofthe reason, the phenomenonprovides an impressivesight that attracts manybirdwatchers, professional and

amateur alike.

Attila who has a passion forbirds of prey and has studied

the red-footed falcon for manyyears, is pleased that so muchhas been learned about hisfavourite falcon and that steps

have been taken to protect itthrough his earlier researchand the LIFE project. 'We're onthe right track,' he concludes.'Many people have now heardof Falco vespertinusand it isgoing to become famous aroundthe world! It is importantto discuss different species,

explore possibilities for fundingtheir protection, and ensure thatdecisions affecting these speciesare made much more carefully.'

Photo: Iosef Nagy and Ovidiu Daescu observing the falcons Gordon McInnes


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By mid-March 2012, red-footedfalcons had commenced theirbreeding at most of the nestingsites in Hungary and Romania.

A lower egg count indicatesfood shortages in the spring,so the fact that most pairsproduced clutches of four eggssuggests conditions were right

Photo: Attila Nagy talks about the LIFEproject Gordon McInnes

for a good season. Attila andhis colleagues will need tocarry on in their work for theforeseeable future to ensure

that conditions continue toimprove for both rooks andfalcons, so the Pannonianskies can stay full of thesegregarious and inter-dependentbirds.

Acknowledgements

This story was prepared withAttila Nagy (Milvus Group)and Adriana Gheorghe,Madalina Cozma and JohnO'Doherty (EEA) with invaluablesupport from Josef Nagy(President, Romanian NationalEnvironmental ProtectionAgency) and Ovidiu Daescu(Director of Bihor EnvironmentalProtection Agency).

The Red-footed Falcon LIFEproject ended in 2009 butthe experts involved havecontinued the necessary

maintenance work as part ofan After LIFE programme (seehttp://kekvercse.mme.hu/en/content/show).
http://kekvercse.mme.hu/en/content/showhttp://kekvercse.mme.hu/en/content/showhttp://kekvercse.mme.hu/en/content/showhttp://kekvercse.mme.hu/en/content/show


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EEA Coming Home to Roost ONE Romania