Turtledove Streptopelia turtur in the North Western Black Sea region

Abstract

The results of field surveys, regarding seasonal migration and nesting numbers, of the turtle dove S. turtur in the North-Western Black Sea region show that in 2021 they were close to the average long-term levels. However, the change of the migration corridor and the departure of the turtle dove, before the beginning of the hunting season (August 7), caused a false picture of the small number of species. This situation is similar to 2020. The main reason was unfavorable meteorological conditions of the spring-summer period. Due to the delay in ripening sunflower, which is a key high-energy feed for migrating turtledoves. Therefore, the lack of ripe sunflower 2020–2021 caused the early flight of birds in order to make up for the forage potential in the fields in the Balkans and Asia Minor. The peak of summer-autumn migration fell on August 9–13, which is 12–12 days earlier than the average long-term period. This situation indicates a sufficient ecological plasticity of the species, expressed in the ability of local and migratory turtledoves to vary the timing of migration and migration corridors, thus responding to changes in environmental conditions. Also, this situation indicates a sharp decrease in the volume of hunting turtle dove — in the hunting season of 2021. Only 5.7 thousand individuals were harvested, which is much less than in 1985–1991. Summarizing the above, the study is evidence that the reduction of migratory birds from 1.5–1.7 million recorded in 1996–2004 to the existing to date 0.9 million. The prospects for further research are in more advanced and in-depth studies of local and flying necks using special accounting methods based on the mass labeling of birds.