The Cyprus Bird Surveys Project: bird monitoring across the divide funded through the EBCC SGF

BirdLife Cyprus has been running long-term bird monitoring schemes for well over a decade, with some programmes ongoing since the 1980s. Unfortunately, however, the coverage of such monitoring schemes has been largely limited to part of the island. Sadly, Cyprus has been divided since 1974, with the Turkish Cypriot community in ‘northern’ Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot community in ‘southern’ Cyprus – the area controlled by the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and where BirdLife Cyprus is based. Of course, birds do not respect political divisions and man-made lines on a map, and there are several species whose distribution is largely or even wholly limited to the northern part of the island, and as such have suffered from less-than-ideal monitoring coverage.

The Cyprus Bird Surveys Project, funded by the EBCC Small Grant Fund, was launched in 2024, in cooperation with the Turkish Cypriot Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature, KUŞKOR, in order to complete gaps in on-going systematic field monitoring activities in ‘northern’ Cyprus, where existing funding does not cover personnel expenses or operational costs. The Project was designed to complement on-going data gathering and assessment work being carried out by BirdLife Cyprus under a service contract to the government of the Republic of Cyprus for reporting under Article 12 of the EU Birds Directive for the period 2019 – 2024. The project also paves the way for establishing longer-term island-wide monitoring, in cooperation with the KUŞKOR.

The target species for the Project are species that are largely on wholly restricted to ‘northern’ Cyprus. Specifically: Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra), Common Raven (Corvus corax), Eurasian Hobby (Falco Subbuteo), Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii) and Mediterranean Shag (Gulosus aristotelis desmarestii). European Roller (Coracias garrulus) was also included, as a priority breeding species for Cyprus and a species in which both BirdLife Cyprus and KUŞKOR continue to invest conservation effort, including through the provision of nesting boxes.

The European Roller is one of the target species for which surveys are carried out. It is a key breeding species for which both BirdLife Cyprus and KUŞKOR invest substantial convervation effort. Photo by Albert Stoecker 

Survey methodologies and data recording sheets were developed for each species, based on the methodologies used under already established BirdLife Cyprus monitoring programmes. A workshop was organised to present the Cyprus Bird Surveys Project and to recruit and train volunteers from both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities. A total of 13 volunteers were recruited and the fieldwork targets set for 2024 were largely met. A total of 49 surveys were carried out across the target area, covering all five target species.

The data collected so far are in the process of being analysed in order to feed into island-wide estimates of population sizes, distributions and trends of the target species, following the requirements of the Article 12 reporting process. These data will make a significant contribution towards improving knowledge of the status of the target species across the entire island of Cyprus.

Unfortunately, during the 2024 field season, the team suffered the sudden loss of Martin Hellicar, Director of BirdLife Cyprus. Martin was the driving force behind the inception and establishment of the Cyprus Bird Surveys Project and a key member of the volunteer bird monitoring team. He was dedicated to cooperation between the two communities in Cyprus and to achieving island-wide coverage of bird monitoring schemes through close collaboration between BirdLife Cyprus and KUŞKOR. The Project team are committed to continuing in Martin’s footsteps and working towards his shared vision for bird monitoring in Cyprus.

Christina Yeronomidou

Research and Monitoring Coordinator

BirdLife Cyprus