Birds of forest habitats

Our Department addresses the monitoring activities in forest habitats on target species as the grey-headed woodpecker, the black woodpecker, the three-toed woodpecker, the Eurasian pygmy owl and the boreal owl. These studies mainly aim at evaluating the distribution of species of high conservation and environmental value and testing a monitoring programme for species of Community interest at a local scale.

The monitoring is carried out in selected areas where bird singing is either spontaneous or stimulated, from dawn to midday for Picidae species, and from sunset to midnight for Strigidae species. More than three repetitions are planned during the season.

Monitoring conducted in 2017 within the Natural Park Paneveggio- Pale di San Martino confirmed the presence of all the target species with a frequency that reflect the available anedoctal information on their distribution and abundance in the surveyed area.

A new planned study will focus on the monitoring of cavities where species like the black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) and the boreal owl nest (Aegolius funereus), in order to increase the knowledge on the conservation status of these species. This research will allow us to gather information on breeding success and population trend of the target species, as well as information on the use of cavities by other species of conservation interest.