In three years of collaboration, the Government has ceded 34 specimens of this species

TDB keeps you informed. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Kites to Andalusia

The Species Protection Service has coordinated the transfer of fifteen kites born in Mallorca to the Sierra de Cazorla, Segura y las Villas Natural Park as part of a project to reintroduce and reinforce the population of the species in Andalusia. In this way, the Conselleria de Medi Ambient i Territori maintains its commitment to this project for the third consecutive year. Since the beginning of this collaboration, which will continue for at least two more years, the Balearic Islands have contributed around thirty chicks to the project.

The safe extraction of the specimens has been possible thanks to the collaboration between different entities and organisations. Over the last few months, the Environmental Agents have monitored the breeding population of the kite (Milvus milvus) in Mallorca by locating nests and monitoring them, determining breeding success and the number of chicks. Of these nests, the most accessible ones have been selected and the Grupo de Intervención en Altura (GIA) of the Agentes de Medio Ambiente (Environmental Agents) has been in charge of extracting them.

The GOB, with the support of Endesa, Enel-Green Power and the NGO AMUS, ringed the rest of the chicks remaining in the nests (14), with rings and wing tags that can be read at a distance, and 11 of these chicks were fitted with satellite tracking transmitters. This will make it possible to monitor these individuals and obtain information on their use of the territory, as well as to detect cases of mortality caused by the use of poison, illegal shooting or electrocution.

The Consortium for the Recovery of the Fauna of the Balearic Islands (COFIB) has supported the marking tasks and has transferred the chicks to its facilities in Santa Eugènia where, in addition to the appropriate veterinary monitoring, they have been fed and kept for 5 to 10 days until the day of their transfer to the peninsula, where they will be released.

Finally, the Grupo de Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (GREFA), the entity in charge of carrying out the reintroduction project of the Junta de Andalucía, has collected the 15 chicks for their transfer to the peninsula and to carry out the hacking in the Sierra de Cazorla. This technique consists of keeping the birds closed in artificial nests or platforms until they get used to their environment and can be released. The specimens will be marked at the release site with rings and wing tags and GPS tracking transmitters.