19 March 2017

From 16 to 19 March, the personnel of ISPRA, along with two experts from the Ornithological Pontine Group, carried out a detailed survey on the Pontine Islands, whose main objective was the monitoring of Yelkouan shearwater’s populations. However, this labour-intensive four days survey was the opportunity to make other investigations, thus collecting useful data in the framework of the LIFE PonDerat project.
The search for the shearwaters colonies occurred by ground surveys, as well as by counting the flocks in the evening resting on the sea. Nocturnal surveys by boats were also carried out, locating the colonies by earing the unmistakable calls. Large Yelkouan shearwater’s colonies have been localized in the northern part of Palmarola and in the North East of S. Stefano. Some mixed colonies were also recorded, i.e colonies hosting both Yelkouan and Scopoli’s shearwater, as in the south of both Ponza and Palmarola.