Балобан на полуострове Крым

Abstract

In this article we made a revaluation of a number of the Saker ( Falco cherrug ) on the Crimean Peninsula based on data obtained in an expedition conducted in May 9–26 of 2015. During this expedition Sakers were observed on 58 sites (31 times they were seen on pylons of power lines, 14 – on cliffs in the foothills of Crimean Mountains, 8 – on the coastal cliffs and 4 on the coastal precipices, and one adult male was seen in the forest shelter belt near Syvash lagoon. We revealed 49 breeding territories of Saker including 42 occupied nests with successful breeding. The estimation of the total number of breeding population on peninsula is 145–184 (mean 165) breeding pairs, including 125–159 (mean 142) pairs which breeding attempts were successful in 2015. The distance between the neighboring pairs is 1.95–15.21 km (mean 6.56±3.37 km), n =43. Pylons of power lines were used by 30 breeding pairs (61.22%) out of 49, and 29 successful nests (69.05%) out of 42 were built on pylons. Supposedly, 63.83% of all breeding pairs in Crimea are bred on pylons, and the percentage of successful nests out of the total number of nests in population is 71.89%. From the 34 nests that were built on pylons, 24 (70.59%) were located on the concrete pylons and 10 (29.41%) on the metal ones. On cliffs and precipices we found 24 nests in total. Eighteen (75%) of them were built on a bare ground, while the others were found in the nests built by other bird species (most of them were made in the former nests of the Raven ( Corvus corax ), and one pair occupies a nest of the Long-legged Buzzard ( Buteo rufinus) located on cliff. The percentage of successful nests out of occupied ones was 85.71%. We found broods of 1–4 nestlings, which in average ( n =23) makes 2.83±0.78 nestling per successful nest. The majority of broods (65.22%) consisted of 3 nestlings. On 20 breeding territories (90.91%) male birds were older then 2 years old, and two breeding territories (9.09%) were occupied by males of 1 st or 2 nd calendar-year; females on 16 breeding territories (47.06%) were older then 2 years old, on 13 territories (38,24%) were of one year old and on 5 (14,71%) territories of two years old. We suppose a population decline in a range from 4.1% to 17.7% in the coming 5 years.