SEMI-COLLARED FLYCATCHER STUDY | WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

SUMMING-UP OF THE 2015 FIELD SURVEY OF THE BREEDING BIOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE SEMI-COLLARED FLYCTACHER

By Johan Träff
This year (2015) the field research season lasted from March 20 to mid-June. During this period 220 nest-boxes allocated in five plots were used in the Goritsa Forest area in the region of Varna. The results are as follows:

Nestboxes – 218 boxes were used during the season (during the winter 12 had disappeared but they were replaced with new ones before the breeding started – Another two (empty) boxes disappeared during the season).

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THE 2015 FIELD SURVEY OF THE BREEDING BIOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE SEMI-COLLARED FLYCTACHER JUST STARTED

March 20, 2015: This year’s field season of the four-year study on the breeding biology and morphology of the Semi-collared Flycatcher started with a presentation entitled “The Semi-collared’s breeding cycle based on 40 years experience of the Collared’s”, given by our colleague from Sweden, ornithologist and researcher Johan Traff at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (IBER) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. For more than 40 years Johan Traff has conducted observations on the breeding biology and morphology of the genus Flycatchers (Ficedula) and in particular of the species from the group of “black and white” Flycatchers (Pied, Collared and Semi-collared Flycatchers).

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SEMI-COLLARED FLYCATCHER IN THE GORITSA AREA 2014

Summing-up of the third field-season of the project (by Johan Träff)

This year (2014) the field research season lasted from March 25 to June 15. During this period 220 nest-boxes divided in five plots were used in the Goritsa Forest area in the region of Varna. Preliminary figures show that the boxes were used by about 120 breeding pairs of Semi-collared Flycatcher compared to 85 during 2013. This year the area was exposed to a really high rate of predation (~45%), by Forest Dormice, Martens, domestic and wild cats and Aesculapian Snakes.

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The third field season of the project “Study on the Semi-collared Flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata) in Bulgaria is over

The study is carried out and financed by Swedish ornithologist and researcher Johan Traff and is based on a regular survey of 200 specially designed nest boxes that are placed within the plots of Staro Oriahovo Forestry Service, Regional Forestry Directorate – Varna. During this four-year project the nest boxes, which are used each year by 75 – 105 pairs, are being observed and studied from the arrival of the birds until the young leave the nest boxes.

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