Winter census of Wildfowl and Shorebirds in the Balearic Islands, January 2002

[eng] Winter census of Wildfowl and Shorebirds in the Balearic Islands, January 2002. Over 27.503 individuals belonging to 60 species have been recorded in 83 Balearic localities. Due to the recent late November rainstorms the number of temporary wetlands has increased, which means that the number of species and individuals has also increased. The average number of individuals of the main families, for the last ten years, has been taken as reference number. The most significant differences have taken place in Mallorca and Menorca where the number of Charadriidae individuals is nearly three times the average number. In Menorca, the number of Pelecaniidae has slightly decreased in reference to the same average. Also in Menorca there has been 6 more recorded species than the year before. In Ibiza and Formentera the number of Anatidae and Phoenicopteridae has increased significantly, but not in reference to last year. Again in those islands, the number of Podicipedidae individuals has decreased.