Fields surveys Po Plain – March 2019

LIFE FALKON staff realized a first rush of filed survey in the Po Plain project area (Project area 1) in the last days of March. Surprisingly, we found that some of the Lesser Kestrel (estimated in ~30% of the total population) were already back to their colonies, one week in advance with respect to any previous record for the species in the Po Plain. This extremely early arrival is probably related to the exceptionally warm and dry winter registered in 2019, which advanced the phenology of plants and insects with respect to the normal blooming date. We visited the entire study area, from Mantua  to Ferrara and we also had the opportunity to meet up with technicians of the municipality of Portomaggiore (FE) to discuss a possible position where to build of one of our nesting tower.

24 March 2019