The Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) between the Loire estuary and the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel: the situation in 2011

Dear Colleagues,

Please find hereafter the link for the article published today in "Le Cormoran"

http://www.fichier-pdf.fr/2013/06/11/balshearsbrittany2011yesouthebault/

The Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) between the Loire
estuary and the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel: the situation in 2011

Pierre YÉSOU (1) et Laurent THÉBAULT (2)
(1) ONCFS, 39 Boulevard Albert Einstein, 44300 Nantes.
(2) Couign ar Fao, Kerlaudy, 29420 Plouénan.

The status of the Balearic Shearwater on the Armorican coast, from the Loire estuary to the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, has been analysed every year since 2009, based on records provided by observers and ornithological associations. For 2011, 429 records were obtained from 45 sites. The first migrator was observed on the 14th April and there were 400 individuals on the north coast of Brittany from the 7th May. The first large gathering in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel (405 birds) was noted on the 13th June, with 1 500 on the 2nd July and 2 900 mid August and 2 300 at the end of August. Numbers dropped in North Brittany and in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel at the beginning of September, when a record total (at least 4 250 birds) was noted in the Vilaine estuary in South Brittany. Over the whole of the area studied, there were about 2 350 Balearic Shearwaters at the end of July (most of them in North Brittany), 3 250 at the end of August, then between 4 950 and 5 200 at the beginning of September. In October several hundred
birds remained in North Brittany and in the Vilaine estuary, several dozen in November. Six observations of from 1 to 12 birds occurred in December. These records show the importance of the region under study for the Balearic Shearwater during their inter-nuptial migration : the maximum numbers present in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel and the Vilaine estuary make up about 17% and 12% respectively of the global population estimated to be 25 000 birds.


All the best

Laurent THEBAULT