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Acrocephalus 33 (154/155): 297−300, 2012
A preliminary overview of 
monitoring for raptors in Italy
Predhodni pregled monitoringa populacij 
ptic roparic v Italiji 
Arianna Aradis1 & Alessandro Andreotti2
 1 Università degli Studi di Palermo, Dipartimento di 
Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Lab. Zoologia applicata,  
V. le Scienze 13, IT–90128 Palermo, Italy,  
e–mail: arianna.aradis@unipa.it
 2 ISPRA - Istituto Superiore per la Ricerca e la 
Protezione Ambientale, Via Cà Fornacetta, 9,  
IT–40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Bologna, Italy,  
e–mail: alessandro.andreotti@isprambiente.it
Owing to its great latitudinal extension and 
environmental heterogeneity, Italy hosts a relatively 
large number of birds of prey. Considering both 
diurnal and nocturnal species, 47 taxa are known 
to occur regularly in the country, 31 of which breed 
here, while two have gone extinct as breeders (Table 
1). Furthermore, twice a year Italy is reached by a large 
number of migrants on their way between Europe and 
Africa. Big concentrations of migrating raptors occur 
in some important bottlenecks (e.g. Marettimo Island, 
Messina Strait, Monte Conero Promontory, Monte 
Beigua).
On a national scale, reviews on the status of raptors 
were published in 1992 (Brichetti et al. 1992) and 
2003 (Brichetti & Fracasso 1993) for diurnal species 
and in 2006 (Brichetti & Fracasso 2006) for owls. 
Among the species nesting in Italy, 17 are classified as 
Species of European Conservation Concern – SPECs 
(BirdLife International 2004), three are included 
in the IUCN Red List (IUCN 2012), while four are 
Critically Endangered (CR) according to the Red 
List of the Italian Breeding Birds (Peronace et al. 
2011). To promote the conservation of some of the 
most endangered species, the Italian Ministry for the 
Environment issued the national action plans for the 
Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus feldeggii, the Eleonora’s 
Falcon F. eleonorae and the Egyptian Vulture Neophron 
percnopterus (Andreotti & Leonardi 2007 & 2009, 
Spina & Leonardi 2007). A regional action plan 
has been drafted for the conservation of the Griffon 
Vulture Gyps fulvus in Sardinia (Schenk et al. 2008).
Monitoring is currently carried out by different actors 
and with different aims, especially to evaluate trends of 
common species and species of conservation concern.
Main players
In Italy, many actors are promoting programmes for 
raptor monitoring:
 – State Forestry Corp (CFS),
 – Departments of several Universities (e.g. Milano, 
Palermo, Pavia, Urbino),
 – Institute for the Environmental Protection and 
Research – ISPRA,
 – National Parks (e.g. Aspromonte National Park; 
Stelvio National Park) and other protected areas 
instituted by national or regional laws,
 – Natural History Museums (e.g. Tridentine Museum 
of Natural Sciences),
 – NGOs (ALTURA – Associazione Tutela Uccelli 
Rapaci e loro Ambienti; Legambiente; LIPU – Lega 
Italiana Protezione Uccelli, BirdLife International 
partner in Italy; MEDRAPTORS – Mediterranean 
Raptor Migration Network; Ornis Italica; WWF),
 – Regional Administrations.
Co-operation has been promoted with foreign 
ornithologists to study vulture populations and raptor 
wintering and migration. Switzerland, Austria and 
France are partners in the “International Bearded 
Vulture Monitoring” (IBM) project to follow the 
birds’ movements across country borderlines. A 
tight collaboration with Slovenian and Croatian 
ornithologists is currently in progress within the 
framework of the Griffon Vulture monitoring 
programmes in the eastern Alps. Since 2011, Italy has 
been involved in the European census of the wintering 
Red Kite Milvus milvus, a project coordinated by 
LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux), France. 
Moreover, collaboration has been established with 
Spanish researchers to study the migration of the 
Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus through satellite 
tracking technology (University of Alicante) and the 
Black Kite M. migrans (Doñana Biological Station and 
CSIC).
Table 1: Number of raptor species occurring in Italy
Tabela 1: Število vrst ptic roparic, ki se pojavljajo v Italiji
Family/
Družina
No. of all species/ 
Št. vseh vrst
No. of breeding 
species / Št. 
gnezdečih vrst
Accipitridae 27 15
Falconidae 10 7
Strigidae 10 9
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A. Aradis & A. Andreotti: A preliminary overview of monitoring for raptors in Italy
The Italian Ministry for the Environment requires 
monitoring data in order to report on the status of 
protected species according to the Birds Directive, as 
well as to designate and manage Special Protection 
Areas (SPAs) and Important Bird Areas (IBAs).
Other frequent users of the data obtained 
from raptor monitoring are: (1) Co-ordinators of 
reintroduction/restocking programmes to evaluate 
the status of the new established populations and to 
formulate management decisions; (2) National Parks 
to manage land use (e.g. presence of Goshawk Accipiter 
gentilis and forest management plans) and to stipulate 
conservation actions; (3) Developers and advisors 
of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 
procedures: Regional Offices to assess the impact of 
local projects (wind farms, regional motorways etc.) 
and the Commission for National Impact Assessment 
of the Ministry for the Environment to assess the 
impact of major projects (e.g. bridge over the Messina 
Strait, motorways).
National coverage
Italy still lacks national coordination for raptor 
monitoring. Some efforts have been made to promote 
co-operation among groups working on the same 
species, to standardize monitoring protocols and 
to assess the size of the breeding populations (e.g. 
Allavena et al. 2006, Magrini et al. 2007). A 
national coordination for the Lanner Falcon was 
established in the 2003–2004 breeding seasons to 
acquire relevant information for the Italian action 
plan (Andreotti & Leonardi 2007, Andreotti et al. 
2008). In the Alps, a network for vulture monitoring 
was promoted in 2008 by the Lombardy Region, 
Stelvio National Park and Alpi Marittime Natural 
Park (RIMANI project). Aims of this network are to 
follow and study dynamic population of re-introduced 
individuals of Lammergeier Gypaetus barbatus and to 
observe and record other vulture species which are 
slowly colonizing the Alps (Griffon Vulture, Black 
Vulture Aegypius monachus) or occasionally occurring 
(Egyptian Vulture). There is informal national 
coordination for monitoring the raptor migration 
(Migrans project), supported by a group of people 
depending on different organisations (NGOs, Parks).
The spatial coverage of monitoring depends on the 
species themselves. For some of them (e.g. Golden 
Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, Peregrine Falcon F. peregrinus, 
Griffon Vulture), comprehensive monitoring is being 
implemented all over the country. In some areas, 
monitoring projects have been carried out intensively 
for many years (e.g. Fasce et al. 2011). In other parts 
of the country, the knowledge of raptor populations is 
still scarce (e.g. Calabria). The monitoring is generally 
done at the local or regional levels and it is quite patchy 
across Italy. In some regions, atlases of breeding raptors 
have been recently published following standardised 
methods (Aradis et al. 2012).
Counts of migrating birds of prey have been carried 
out mostly in the last two decades both during post- and 
pre-breeding migration periods in several bottlenecks 
(mountain passes, promontories, small islands and 
straits) to describe flyways and movements strategies 
(e.g. Panuccio 2011). Some of this research work has 
been the result of joint efforts based on simultaneous 
observations at different watchpoints (e.g. Agostini 
2002, Agostini et al. 2002). In recent years, satellite 
telemetry has been used to carry out detailed studies 
on migration (e.g. Mellone et al. 2011).
Key species and key issues
Monitoring activities are carried out in different 
periods of the year, addressing different target species.
In the breeding period, the species like Golden Eagle, 
Bonelli’s Eagle A. fasciata, Peregrine Falcon, Lanner 
Falcon, Lesser Kestrel F. naumanni, Eleonora’s Falcon, 
Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture and Lammergeier 
receive fairly solid coverage across their entire breeding 
range. Red Kite, Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus, 
Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus, Eagle Owl Bubo 
bubo and Tengmalm’s Owl Aegolius funereus are 
monitored only on a local scale, while Buzzard Buteo 
buteo and Kestrel F. tinnunculus are monitored within 
the framework of the national common bird census 
project to evaluate the breeding population trends 
(Progetto Mito; Rete Rurale Nazionale & LIPU 
2012).
In the non-breeding period, Red and Black Kites 
are counted at night roosts (partial monitoring), while 
Marsh Harrier is included in International Waterbird 
Census (IWC) (Baccetti et al. 2002). Among the 
most numerous species in the migration periods are 
Black Kite, Marsh Harrier, Short-toed Eagle and 
Honey Buzzard Pernis apivoris.
Monitoring is usually aimed at censusing 
populations or, as far as Endangered and Critically 
Endangered species are concerned, to assess their status 
(e.g. Egyptian Vulture, Sara et al. 2009). However, 
data on threats to raptors are also gathered. The main 
threats monitored by different projects are habitat loss, 
disturbance, illegal hunting, egg collecting and stealing 
of young falcons from their nests, poisoning, collisions 
with aerial structures (wires, power lines, wind farms), 
both in the breeding areas and in bottlenecks where 
migrants funnel. The effects of collisions with power 
lines were studied in details, and guidelines to mitigate 
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the impact have been written (Rubolini et al. 2005, 
Pirovano & Cocchi 2008).
An international networking might help to 
improve our knowledge on new coming threats whose 
effects are not yet fully understood (e.g. wind farms). 
Furthermore, it might allow a better understanding 
of flyways especially relevant for the protection of 
stopover key sites.
Strengths and weaknesses
The main strength of the monitoring programmes 
carried out in Italy is the high motivation and 
enthusiasm of several ornithologists working in the 
field, in most cases on a voluntary basis. The qualitative 
level of field observers is generally high.
The weaknesses are the lack of a national 
coordination and the low level of communication 
among a part of ornithologists, who are scarcely 
inclined to co-operate and share their own data with 
others for several reasons (e.g. fear to expose nests 
to robbery, jealousy, distrust). Lack of economic 
resources from various institutions is also a major 
limiting factor.
Studies and monitoring of owl populations are 
quite scarce. Some diurnal species are not adequately 
monitored, in particular tree-nesting raptors (such 
as the Goshawk, whose population is probably 
underestimated in remote areas due to the harsh 
census conditions). Some of the less covered areas are 
in southern Italy (Calabria, Campania and Sardinia), 
in spite of their richness in species of relevant 
conservation importance; this lack of data is partially 
related to the low number of active ornithologists and 
ringers there.
About threats, the role of pesticides, rodenticides, 
pollutants, chemical contaminants and collisions with 
wind farms is not adequately investigated and the 
relevance of their impacts on population trends is not 
well known.
European monitoring network could facilitate 
commencement of national programmes, at least for 
some species of diurnal raptors currently monitored by 
local ornithological groups. Furthermore, international 
standardised protocols could improve the efficiency of 
monitoring in Italy, both to evaluate population sizes 
and trends and to assess the impact of some threats 
(e.g. electrocution, windfarms). Special attention 
should be paid to define guidelines for Before-After 
Control-Impacts monitoring within the framework of 
project evaluation and impact assessment.
Priorities, capacity-building
The highest priority to strengthen monitoring in 
Italy is to create a National Coordination aimed at 
organizing a network of regional focal points and to 
draw standardized species-specific protocols. Ideally, 
the coordination for each species or species groups 
should be provided by public institutions such as the 
Italian Ministry for the Environment, universities, 
museums or ISPRA to ensure adequate resources in 
terms of economy and/or staff, temporal continuity, 
correct use of the data and to train regional focal 
points to guarantee a strict connection between local 
observers and the national network.
Povzetek
V Italiji manjkajo celostni popisi in monitoringi 
populacij ptic roparic na nacionalni ravni. Da bi lahko 
uresničili mednarodne projekte, ki zadevajo brkatega 
sera Gypaetus barbatus, beloglavega jastreba Gyps 
fulvus, kačarja Circaetus gallicus, črnega Milvus migrans 
in rjavega škarnika M. milvus, je bilo vzpostavljeno 
sodelovanje z nekaterimi tujimi državami (Švica, 
Avstrija, Francija, Španija). S strani različnih 
nevladnih organizacij je bilo zastavljenih nekaj 
regionalnih in lokalnih projektov monitoringa več vrst 
in dogovorjena neformalna nacionalna koordinacija 
za monitoring selečih se ujed. Namen monitoringa 
je navadno ugotoviti velikost populacij, pridobljene 
podatke pa različni deležniki uporabljajo v glavnem za 
poročanje statusa vrst, zavarovanih v skladu Direktivo 
o pticah EU, načrtovanje zavarovanih območij, 
upravljanje s prostorom, načrtovanje naravovarstvenih 
akcij in ocenjevanje vplivov nacionalnih in lokalnih 
projektov.
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Arrived / Prispelo: 27. 3. 2013
Accepted / Sprejeto: 1. 7. 2013