Przemysław Wylegała, Michał Przystański
Ornis Polonica 2020, 61: 225–235
https://doi.org/10.12657/ornis.2020.3.3
Abstract: This work presents population numbers of some birds nesting in the valley of the Warta river in the area of the SPA Natura 2000 Dolina Środkowej Warty. In 2020 breeding birds were counted while canoeing along the Warta section of 155 km within the SPA area. A single count revealed the presence of 10–25 pairs of Goldeneye Bucephala clangula (up to 0.8% of the national population), 20–30 pairs of Common Merganser Mergus merganser (1–2% of the national population), 52 pairs of Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis (0.8–2.0% of the national population), 16 pairs of Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius (0.1–0.3% of the national population) and 3030 pairs of Bank Swallows Riparia riparia (1–2% of the national population). In comparison with the 70s and 90s of the 20th century, the survey revealed a marked decline of the Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos. We did not observe nesting Ringed Plovers Charadrius hiaticula and Little Terns Sternula albifrons, in line with scarce breeding records of these species after 2010. We conclude that the middle section of the Warta river is an important national breeding site for the Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Common Kingfisher and Bank Swallow.
Keywords: breeding birds, middle Warta River valley, SPA area, waterbirds
