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The Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus is a waterbird commonly found in saline and brackish lagoons throughout the Mediterranean Region. We have gathered existing data on Greater Flamingos in Turkey and carried out field surveys to present the most up to date information on wintering (1999–2014) and breeding (1969– 2014). The wintering population of flamingos shows an increasing trend with 54,947±20,794 individuals mainly concentrated in the Gediz, Buyuk Menderes and Cukurova deltas, respectively. Breeding attempts were recorded in at least seven wetlands in Turkey in the past, yet after 1999 most of the colonies were abandoned due to basin scale intensive water management practices in Central Anatolia. Currently, only Tuz Lake and Gediz Delta are used as regular breeding sites, while breeding has been recorded sporadically in Acigol and Aksehir Lakes. The breeding colony of Tuz Lake is of prime importance at the Mediterranean scale, with the number of young chicks in 2011, 2012 and 2013 accounting fo...

We studied the unusual wintering records of some rare pipit species during winter in Hatay Province, in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey. Through intensive field observations performed between 2007 and 2013, 8 pipit species were recorded in the province. Among the observations, 59 were unusual wintering records belonging to 5 pipit species. In this article, we present observations on frequency and seasonality of each pipit species observed in Hatay Province. Meadow, water, and red-throated pipits were already known as winter visitors to the region, but for the first time in this study, we observed buff-bellied, Richard's, tree, tawny, and Blyth's pipits in Hatay Province during winter. In light of our observations, we suggest that all 5 species-especially buff-bellied, Richard's, and tree pipits-might be regular winter visitors to Hatay.

Habitat cover and change were analysed in the Marmara Lake to investigate the effects of water level and human intervention on the natural habitats and breeding waterbirds. Breeding Birds Surveys were applied to investigate breeding waterbirds and their breeding activities in 2008 and 2011. GIS, remote sensing techniques and various satellite images were used to determine distributions, surface areas, zonal centroids, and displacements of the habitats in 2000, 2008 and 2011. The total number of bird species with and without breeding evidence in 2008 and 2011 were compared with the Chi-Square test. Habitats in each UTM grid in 2008 and 2011 were compared with McNemar’s test. The impact of water level on habitats, number of breeding birds, and their breeding parameters were investigated using Spearman’s correlation analyses. The major habitats were open waters, reed beds, scrubs and woodlands, wet grasslands, and mudflats. Significant increases were observed in open waters, reed beds, and wet grasslands, but no significant change was observed for scrubs and woodlands. Out of 70 UTM grids, 69 and 48 grids corresponding to 95 and 75 observation points were surveyed in 2008 and 2011, and 34 different waterbirds were identified. The total number of breeding waterbirds significantly increased in 2011. Open waters were positively correlated with reed beds and negatively correlated with mudflats. Among 34 waterbird species, changes in the breeding parameters of 22 species were significantly correlated with the changes occurring in the major habitats. Our study demonstrates that changes in water level significantly affected the existence of key habitats and theirs distributions, resulting in significant changes in the number of breeding waterbirds and their breeding activities.

We investigated nest site selection and breeding success of White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) in relation to geographical features, weather, and land use in western Turkey. Locations of nests in relation to altitude, distance to the nearest river and stream, slope, and aspect were examined between 2008 and 2010 in Sindirgi District. Population dynamics of breeding White Storks were surveyed in the central town in 1984, 1987, and between 1992 and 2010. White Storks nested in only 17 of 74 settlements. Twenty-six of 46 nests were occupied in 2010 with a mean density of 1.72 breeding pairs/km2. Settlements with nests were significantly lower (x ± SD) in elevation (283.3 ± 77.3 vs. 622.5 ± 230.7 m) and closer to the nearest river (1,646.2 ± 1,004.5 vs. 4,101.7 ± 3,231.5 m) than settlements without nests. No significant difference was found between the mean aspects of the settlements and the distances to the nearest stream between these two groups of settlements. The number of breeding pairs and fledglin...

WOS: 000353916400003, The Dalmatian pelican (DP) Pelecanus crispus and the great white pelican (GWP) Pelecanus onocrotalus are listed as 'Vulnerable' and 'Least Concern', respectively, in the IUCN Red List. We present an updated estimation of the Black Sea/Mediterranean flyway population status of both species, based on data provided by experts working in all 7 countries of the region where pelicans breed and/or overwinter, who came together at the 1st Workshop on Pelican Research and Conservation in Prespa, Greece. The DP breeding population in the Black Sea and Mediterranean countries increased from 1730-2105 pairs in the years 2000-2010 to 2154-2437 pairs in 2011-2012. Approximately 40% of the Palaearctic breeding population of GWP occurred in Southeast Europe and Turkey. In 2011-2012 the GWP population in this region was estimated to be 4702-5175 pairs, and has remained more or less stable during the last decade. Although all the breeding sites for both species are in protected areas, disturbance at nesting places was considered to be the main threat. Direct persecution and electric power lines still cause occasional problems. In deltaic lagoons, erosion and inundation of nesting sites cause breeding failures in DPs, while in inland wetlands large water level fluctuations are a widespread problem. Decrease of fish stocks is a threat, especially in coastal areas. Many stop-over wetlands along GWP migration routes between Southeast Europe and Africa have been seriously degraded or have disappeared, resulting in serious implications for their populations. Conservation needs are listed, but further research is recommended for both species., TUB TAK research projectTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [111T465]; ECEuropean Commission Joint Research CentreEuropean Community (EC) [LIFE05 NAT/RO/000169]; Swarovski Optik; Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat through the Foundation 'Le Balkan'; MAVA Foundation through the Society for the Protection of Prespa; Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat; Society for the Protection of Prespa; WWF Greece, Taej Mundkur, Nyambayar Batbayar, Piotr Cwiertnia, Andrej Vizi, Gennady Molodan, Simba Chan, Menxiu Tong, Zinovey Petrovych and Giannis Roussopoulos are thanked for providing unpublished information and/or for comments on an earlier draft. The Hellenic Ornithological Society provided International WaterBird Census data for both species in Greece. The work of M.S., O.O. and O.G. in Turkey was funded by a TUB TAK research project (No. 111T465). The conservation and monitoring activities in Romania between 2005 and 2009 were co-funded by the EC through the project LIFE05 NAT/RO/000169. The work in Srebarna was funded by Swarovski Optik and the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat through the Foundation 'Le Balkan'. The work in Prespa, Am vrakikos and Kerkini in Greece was funded by the MAVA Foundation through the Society for the Protection of Prespa and the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, and G.C. was supported by the Society for the Protection of Prespa and WWF Greece. D. Tommy King, Dan Chamberlain, Hans Kallander and an anonymous re viewer made many useful suggestions that improved an earlier draft. Julia Henderson corrected our gross mistakes in the use of the English language.