FANBPO Annual Report on Woodcock (FAROW) - 2015-2016 hunting season

• Type: Technical Report
• Date: 2017

Authors

David Goncalves (Author) FCUP

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences > Biodiversity > Exploração sustentável

FOS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences

Other information

Abstract (EN): In the first "FANBPO Annual Report on Woodcock" (FAROW) we present the FANBPO, the Federation of Western Palearctic National Woodcock Hunters Associations, which joins about 7000 Woodcock hunters from seven European countries and is engaged, since 14 years ago, to contribute to the scientific research on the Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola). The Woodcock or Eurasian Woodcock is a mostly migratory wader, widely distributed in the Palearctic Region. Its global conservation status is evaluated as "Least Concern", and in Europe the population trend is considered stable. The Woodcock winters or migrates through all European countries, being an important game species in many of them. Sustainable management of the species requires information regularly collected regarding abundance and demographic parameters. It is a complex task given that different phases of its annual life cycle encompass different countries. Due to its behaviour, Woodcock populations cannot be properly evaluated by common bird census technics. However, hunting activity can provide the necessary data to annually evaluate abundance and demographic parameters. We present results of some of the work developed by FANBPO regarding these components. On each country, the associations of woodcock hunters encourage their affiliates to collect data during the hunting season. The abundance of woodcock is estimated as a hunting index of abundance (ICA = number of woodcock seen per standardized hunting trip; i.e., 3.5 hours). For each bird captured, hunters are asked to determine sex by gonad examination and to collect a wing for age determination. Data concerning variation on woodcock abundance along several years or hunting seasons is available for France (21 years), Switzerland (17 years), Spain (11 years) and Portugal (8 years). Additionally, for these countries and for Italy, Ireland and Wales, data from captured birds allows to evaluate demographic parameters (percentages and ratios of age classes and sexes). France, Spain and Portugal form a geographic unit in the Southwest of Europe, the Franco-Iberian region, an important wintering area for woodcock from the Western Palearctic. During the last nine autumns and winters, the abundance of Woodcock remained stable in this region. Concerning the regional variation on the percentage of young birds, in the last five hunting seasons, the pattern seems to consist on relatively high values in Southern and North-East Italy, in the Atlantic coastal regions of France, in the Spanish regions of the Basque Country, Navarre and Aragon, and in Northern Portugal. This is an example of citizen science, developed by the associations of woodcock hunters in different European countries, that aims to maintain a favourable conservation status of the Woodcock while allowing a rational use of its populations by a sustainable and controlled hunting.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Dissemination

Notes: REFERÊNCIA: Gonçalves, D & Rodrigues, TM (Coord.) (2017). FANBPO Annual Report on Woodcock (FAROW) - 2015-2016 hunting season. Federation of Western Palearctic National Woodcock Hunters Associations (FANBPO), 43 pp. (bilingual publication: French and English). (http://www.fanbpo.fr/uploaded/rapport-annuel-de-la-fanbpo-sur-la-ba-casse-saison-de-chasse-2015-2016.pdf)

No. of pages: 43