Dominik Marchowski, Zbigniew Kajzer, Marcin Sołowiej, Sebastian Michałowski, Michał Barcz, Michał Jasiński, Miłosz Kowalewski, Anna Malecha, Maciej Przybysz, Tomasz Rek, Marcin Sidelnik, Maciej Sobieraj, Paweł Stańczak, Łukasz Jankowiak
Ornis Polonica 2023, 64: 273–287
https://doi.org/10.12657/ornis.2023.4.2
Abstract: During the years 2021–2023, bird observations were conducted on two artificial islands (Brysna and Śmiecka) in the Szczecin Lagoon, Poland, during the breeding and migration periods. The largest breeding colony of Pied Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta in Poland was detected there, comprising 14 pairs on Brysna Island in 2022 and 25 pairs (20 on Brysna and 5 on Śmiecka) in 2023. The highest one-time abundance of Avocets (adults, juveniles, and chicks) in 2022 was 64 individuals and 118 in 2023. The islands also served as breeding grounds for several other rare and/or endangered species, including the Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna (15 pairs in 2023), Little Tern Sternula albifrons (21 pairs in 2021), Common Tern Sterna hirundo (390 pairs in 2023), Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula (13 pairs in 2023) and Little Ringed Plover Ch. dubius (25 pairs in 2023), as well as the Mediterranean Gull Ichthyaetus melanocephalus (1 pair in 2023). In the years 2022–2023, during the breeding season, 53 Avocets (5 adults and 48 chicks/juveniles) were ringed on the islands. There were 37 recoveries of 18 individuals, mainly from the Wadden Sea area (N=16); the furthest reports (N=2) came from the Iberian Peninsula near Murcia in Spain (2090 km from Brysna). Birds tagged with GPS-GSP transmitters were present on the coasts of the Wadden Sea, Rügen Island, Lake Neusiedl, and in the lagoons of the northern Adriatic in Italy. Maintaining the attractiveness of the artificial islands for rare and endangered waterbird species requires active conservation measures, including regular plant removal to prevent vegetation succession and preserve open habitats. It is also important to limit human penetration in this area, in particular by tourists engaged in water sports, and to monitor and, if necessary, remove predators and other animals that pose a threat to the nesting birds.
Keywords: active conservation of waterbirds, biodiversity offsetting, bird conservation strategies, breeding Charadriiformes, environmental compensation, habitat management for waterbirds
