Monitoring of colonies and provisioning of rooks with nest material as a potential tool for stabilizing colonies and increasing nesting opportunities in the countryside. Project report

Abstract

Abstract The rook is a species inhabiting open agricultural landscape whose non-active nests are also used by other bird species for nesting. It is the decline in rook colonies that has been posited as one of the reasons for decrease in the red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus) population in Slovakia since the 1970s. During the period from 2012 till 2016, four monitorings of rook colonies were carried out in south-western Slovakia (Diakovce, Nitrianska Osada, Sokolce and Tvrdošovce). In the colony at Tvrdošovce, supporting activity involving provisioning of rooks with nest material was under way from 2014 until 2016. While the colonies at Diakovce and Nitrianska Osada have been showing a slight decrease in the number of nesting rooks, despite larger interannual differences the colony at Sokolce has been showing an upward trend. The size of the colony at Tvrdošovce has been stable since the beginning of the supporting activity. This activity had a statistically significant positive effect on the width of rook nests. In 74 cases in the studied rook colonies we have recorded nesting by three other bird species – Eurasian kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 43.8%, western jackdaw (Corvus monedula) 39.7% and long-eared owl (Asio otus) 16.4%. In 2015 two female redfooted falcons were observed in the colony at Tvrdošovce.