REGIONALLY EXTINCT - The conservation status and distribution of the breeding birds of prey of

RERE

3.2. Regionally Extinct species

Three species assessed in this report are Regionally Extinct as breeders, representing 8.3% of the native breed-ing raptors of North Africa (Tables 2 and 3, Chapter 6). They are the cinereous vulture, Spanish imperial eagle and dark chanting-goshawk, and are thought to have become Regionally Extinct in the last century. The first two species are highly likely to recolonise Morocco because of the increasing Iberian subpopulations nearby, but management measures to mitigate the impact of threats such as electrocution and disturbance need to be implemented, and a possible translocation programme, reintroducing birds from the nearest healthy Iberian populations, could be considered (IUCN/SSC, 2013).

The cinereous vulture and the Spanish imperial eagle were at the southern edge of their breeding range in North Africa, especially in Morocco, and were never very abundant. These breeding populations are likely to have survived because of immigration from the larger Spanish populations, but their decline during the 20^th century due to human persecution was too strong. Unintended poisoning, even resulting from Moroccan government measures, was the main reason for the extirpation of raptors, including Spanish imperial eagles and cinereous vultures, in the 20^th century, but currently the most important threats are shooting, hunting, and habitat destruc-tion and disturbance, especially in forests, due to the increase and spread of the human populadestruc-tion.

Despite this, populations of both species are increasing in Europe, especially in Spain, and an increasing number of immature individuals are visiting Morocco (Del Moral, 2017; Morandini et al., 2019) and staying until breeding age (Godino et al., 2016; García and Garrido, 2017, 2019). The Spanish imperial eagle is a regular non-breeding visitor to Morocco and Algeria, with few wintering areas in Morocco, mainly in the south but also in the east of the country (Morandini et al., 2019). There are five main temporary settlement areas in Morocco (Kenifra, Mamora, Low Draa, Missour and the western coast of Atlantic Sahara) and one in western Algeria around Tindouf (García and Garrido, 2020). Therefore, there is potential for the re-establishment of a Moroccan breeding population if the main threats (electrocution, low density of prey, and human persecution and disturbance) can be mitigated.

The dark chanting-goshawk is a widespread resident raptor occurring over large areas of sub-Saharan Afri-ca, which used to have isolated subpopulations of the endemic subspecies M. m. theresae in south-western Morocco. The original breeding range of the dark chanting-goshawk in North Africa included the argan forests of the Souss Valley and adjacent Anti-Atlas foothills of Morocco (Vernon et al., 2005), but now it is Regionally Extinct here with the last nesting record in 1979 (Heinze and Krott, 1979). The species was at the northern edge of its range in North Africa and was never very abundant here: it was already considered rare by Lynes (1925).

In more recent years there have been only four sightings in the region of Souss but none since 2007, although it has been actively searched for many times by many experienced ornithologists (Fareh et al., 2016), which in-dicates that this species has definitely become extinct in Morocco. The species was extirpated due to changes of land use in the Souss region (P. Bergier, 2020 pers. comm.).

What these three species have in common is that they nest in trees and are extremely sensitive to forest destruction and human disturbance due to the intensity of human use, resulting in the abandonment of breeding territories.

3.3. Threatened species

Twelve species assessed in this report are threatened (33.3%), as they belong to one of the three IUCN threat categories (Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable) (Tables 2 and 3, Chapter 6).

The most threatened species is the red kite, which is listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Regionally Extinct) because, after a decline in its breeding population since the end of 20^th century due to poisoning, there has been no evidence of breeding since 2004. Because it nests in trees, it is affected by forest destruction and human disturbance due to the intensity of human use, resulting in the abandonment of breeding territories. Another current limiting factor to the breeding population is climate change, because Morocco is at the southern limit of the species' distribution and its breeding populations are moving to cooler northern areas.

There are six other Critically Endangered species: three vultures (bearded, lappet-faced and Rüppell´s), northern goshawk, tawny eagle and marsh owl. All have small breeding populations.

The bearded vulture bred in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt in the past, but now the species is believed to have only two small subpopulations of fewer than 30 mature individuals in the High Atlas of Morocco and in Egypt, which have dramatically declined in recent decades because of human persecution. The lappet-faced vulture has a small population in Egypt estimated at 20–40 mature individuals, which is declining because of poisoning and human disturbance. It is extinct in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The breeding population of Rüppell’s vulture is very small (less than 20 mature individuals in Algeria), and it seems to have colonised North Africa in the last 10 years. This could be assumed to be the beginning of a range displacement process

The most threatened species in North Africa is the red kite (Milvus milvus), which is listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Regionally Extinct). © Daniel Burón

from the southern Sahel towards the southern Mediterranean region. Climate change and habitat degradation in its original breeding areas have been proposed as the main causes (Kemp et al., 2020). The species is globally assessed as Critically Endangered (BirdLife International, 2020b) and so it requires urgent conservation mea-sures including a better understanding of the factors influencing changes in its distribution.

The northern goshawk also has a small population, with fewer than 40 mature individuals distributed in only one subpopulation in northern Morocco. It has been in continuous decline in recent decades due to forest destruction, human disturbance and nest robbery. The breeding population of tawny eagles is declining and numbers fewer than 40 mature individuals in a single subpopulation in northern Algeria, because of poaching, hunting, unintended poisoning, habitat destruction (especially of forests) and disturbance, due to an increase in the human population. Finally, the marsh owl has a small and declining population estimated at 100–200 mature individuals in one subpopulation in Morocco because of the drainage and degradation of marshlands, its main suitable habitat.

Significantly, three of these CR species are also tree-nesting: the lappet-faced vulture, northern goshawk and tawny eagle.

Four additional species are listed as Endangered: osprey, Egyptian vulture, Montagu’s harrier and Eurasian hobby. The osprey has a small population in the northern Maghreb and along the Red Sea coast (< 150 mature individuals), without any likelihood of immigration from nearby breeding sites in the Mediterranean region and with ongoing major threats (human disturbance from fishing and tourism, power lines and windfarm develop-ment). The Egyptian vulture still has a significant breeding population (750 pairs) from Morocco to Egypt, with three separate subpopulations: a Maghreb subpopulation, including Mediterranean breeding populations in Morocco, northern Algeria, Tunisia and northern Libya; a desert subpopulation in south-eastern Algeria and Libya, which is more closely related to the Afrotropical population than to the Mediterranean one; and an Egyp-tian subpopulation, isolated from the Mediterranean and desert subpopulations and more closely related to the Arabian subpopulation. However, the species has declined by 50–79% over three generations (53 years) due mainly to poisoning, except in Algeria. Montagu’s harrier occurs on the north-western coast and plains of east-ern Morocco and north-westeast-ern Algeria, with a small population of less than 105 breeding pairs that is declining because of the conversion of its habitat to agricultural land. The Eurasian hobby is a local tree-nesting breeder in forests in the northern half of the Maghreb, with an estimated 1,000–2,000 mature individuals, but all in one declining subpopulation threatened by degradation of open wooded areas.

One native breeding raptor species is listed as Vulnerable in the region: the griffon vulture, which currently breeds only in Algeria although an increasing number of individuals are immigrating from Europe to North Af-rica. This species is extinct in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco due to human persecution and the decline of wild ungulates as food.

3.4. Near Threatened species

Overall, four species were assessed as Near Threatened (NT) (Tables 2 and 3, Chapter 6), reflecting concern that they are close to qualifying for a threatened category and could do so in the near future. It is essential that these species are monitored closely and, where possible, management action should be taken to avoid them becoming listed as threatened in the future. One of them is a near-endemic species (with ≥70% of its global range in the region), the sooty falcon, which occurs sparsely in Libya and Egypt. It has suffered from the collec-tion of nestlings for falconry, and illegal killing may also affect the remaining populacollec-tion.

The short-toed snake eagle occurs over a wide range in three subpopulations, with 98% of individuals in the Maghreb subpopulation. The loss of nesting sites due to logging (it nests in trees) as well as disturbance seem to be the main threats. The western marsh-harrier has a wide range in marshes and reedbed wetlands in the northern Maghreb, in a single subpopulation. Potential threats include wetland desiccation and drainage.

Lastly, Eleonora's falcon currently has a growing breeding population of more than 2,200 pairs, but they are restricted to 10 islands and cliff sites in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, some of them highly dependent on conservation actions, especially access restrictions to breeding colonies, and the population could decrease drastically if these actions were to stop.

Though Eleonora’s falcon (Falco eleonorae) has a growing breeding population in North Africa, it is restricted to a few islands and cliffs in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and is highly dependent on conservation actions, especially access restrictions to breeding colonies; it is listed as Near Threatened. © Daniel Burón

3.5. Least Concern species

There are 17 native breeding raptor species (47.2%) listed as Least Concern (LC) in North Africa (Tables 2 and 3, Chapter 7); they are not considered to be under any known major threat of extinction in the foreseeable future.

Many of these species are generally abundant and/or relatively widespread. Some of them may still benefit from conservation management action, however, even though they are listed as LC.

Among the most common species, the nominal subspecies of black kite Milvus migrans migrans is a common breeding migrant in north-western Africa, and is assessed as Least Concern, but the subspecies Milvus mi-grans aegyptius (Yellow-billed Kite) is a scarce breeding resident in the Nile Valley and parts of the Nile Delta in Egypt and has a very small population (150 mature individuals in one subpopulation), which is considered to be gradually declining due to habitat degradation for agriculture and development. This subspecies has very recently been treated as a separate species on the global Red List (BirdLife International, 2020a), and so any future regional Red Lists should assess these subspecies separately, and it is likely that the yellow-billed kite will be classed as regionally threatened.

3.6. Patterns of species richness

The North African breeding birds of prey assessed show a non-homogeneous geographical distribution. Most species are distributed in the forests and steppes of the northern Maghreb, mainly from Morocco to Tunisia but also in north-eastern Libya, coinciding with the area of greatest Mediterranean influence and the southern limit of distribution for most of the Western Palaearctic species (Figure 4). It is also the area most densely populated by humans. Only Bonelli's eagle and Eleonora's falcon are found further south in Morocco. Bonelli's eagle is the most abundant large eagle in North Africa, and it is a characteristic raptor of Mediterranean environments. It is well established in the Maghreb, including the northern Sahara, with a few pairs breeding in the eastern Red Sea mountains and southern Sinai in Egypt. Eleonora’s falcon breeds in colonies on islands around the Mediterranean Sea and along the north-west coast of Africa in the middle of Morocco.

Other important areas are located in the Sahara desert, including the Ahaggar mountains and Tassili n'Ajjer pla-teau in southern Algeria; the Tibesti mountains, granite mountains and oasis of Kufra in south-eastern Libya; and the Nile delta and valley, Sinai–Red Sea mountains and Gebel Elba in Egypt.

The spatial distribution of threatened birds of prey species has a similar pattern (Figure 5), with most of the threat-ened species concentrated in the northernmost part of the Maghreb, in particular the Tingitana Peninsula in Morocco and the Mediterranean forests of Algeria, but also in Gebel Elba, the southern Nile Valley and southern Sinai in Egypt. Other areas with some threatened species occur along the coast from the Atlantic Sahara in Mo-rocco to the Red Sea coast in Egypt, the whole Nile valley and some desert areas between Algeria and MoMo-rocco, southern Algeria and south-eastern Libya.

It should be noted that the North Africa region hosts five species of breeding vultures (lappet-faced, bearded, Egyptian, griffon and Rüppell's), all of them threatened at regional level, with very small populations in all countries except Algeria. This country has the last breeding population of the tawny eagle, the only breeding populations of the griffon and Rüppell's vultures in the region and an apparently large population of Egyptian vultures, suggest-ing that it could act as a source of individuals for these three species to recolonise the region.

Figure 4. Species richness of breeding raptors of North Africa. Map based on the data collected by the authors.

Figure 5. Species richness of threatened breeding raptors of North Africa. Map based on the data collected by the authors.

3.7. Major threats to raptors in North Africa

A summary of the major threats to breeding raptors in North Africa, according to the IUCN Threats Classification Scheme, is presented in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Summary of threats to all native species assessed in the North African region.

The whole region of North Africa faces the problem of raptor poaching for illegal trade (Emile et al., 2014; Brochet et al., 2016; MaghrebOrnitho, 2020). This is important for hawks and especially falcons, particularly sooty, lanner and peregrine falcons, some of which are trapped for falconry (Brochet et al., 2016) and traded in international and local markets. There is also evidence of illegal trade in all owl species in North Africa (Brochet et al., 2016), but these can be considered anecdotal events (Red List Review Workshop Tunisia, 2020).

Illegal killing by poaching and shooting is a major threat confirmed at least for large eagles in Morocco and Libya (Karim Rousselon, pers. comm., 2019; S. Buirzayqah, pers. comm., 2020).

Vultures and other scavenger raptors such as the Spanish imperial eagle, tawny eagle and red kite were extir-pated from huge areas of North Africa in the 20^th century because of their scavenging habits. They were often unintended victims of poisons used for predator control by farmers (Garrido et al., 2014; Andevski, 2017; Botha et al., 2017). Algeria appears to be the only country where this threat did not affect breeding populations, so it is where the greatest diversity of birds of prey exists and it is the last refuge for many of the species, especially the Egyptian vulture and tawny eagle.

Another important threat is the use of pesticides and rodenticides in agriculture, which can have a negative impact on breeding success, reduce prey density and cause secondary poisoning through consumption of

Residential & commercial development - Commercial & industrial areas Residential & commercial development - Tourism & recreation areas Biological resource use - Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources Natural system modifications - Other ecosystem modifications Pollution - Garbage & solid waste Climate change & severe weather - Other impacts Inbreeding Invasive & other problematic species & genes - Invasive non-native/alien species Natural system modifications - Fire & fire suppression Residential & commercial development - Housing & urban areas Agriculture & aquaculture - Wood & pulp plantations Natural system modifications - Dams & water management/use Human intrusions & disturbance - Work & other activities Invasive & other problematic species & genes - Problematic native species Transportation & service corridors - Roads & railroads Agriculture & aquaculture - Livestock farming & ranching Biological resource use - Logging & wood harvesting Human intrusions & disturbance - Recreational activities Agriculture & aquaculture - Annual & perennial non-timber crops Energy production & mining - Renewable energy Transportation & service corridors - Utility & service lines Pollution - Agricultural & forestry effluents Biological resource use - Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Threatened LC, NT RE

poisoned corpses. Internationally banned organochlorine pesticides are locally available, poisoning animals and polluting soils and water (Garrido et al. 2014). Cases of poisoning at rubbish dumps have been found in some scavenger species. Nevertheless, these places are key feeding habitats when they are properly managed (JMM and Associates, 2015). Additionally, veterinary application of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, which has caused the near-extinction of several Gyps vultures in India, may have a negative impact on vulture species in this region too.

Habitat destruction and disturbance, especially of forests due to the use of wood as fuel for cooking and heating and the felling of large trees to clear land for crops and livestock are also an important threat. This especially affects raptors that nest in trees and may lead them to abandon their breeding territories (Stuart and Collar, 1988; Garrido et al., 2005; Vernon et al., 2005; Fellous, 2017; Tellería et al., 2019). This could be the reason why Bonelli’s and golden eagles have apparently stopped nesting in trees in Morocco (Cuzin, 2019). The conversion of grasslands to agricultural land is the main threat to Montagu’s harrier and the marsh owl. These species are also affected by disturbance from farmers and pastoralists, and from birders in the case of the marsh owl. Finally, vultures and other scavenger species can be affected by food scarcity. Though livestock is very abundant, local traditions such as burying domestic ungulate carcasses decrease food resources for these species, especially in Morocco (Garrido et al., 2014; Allaoui and Cherkaoui, 2018).

The expansion of the electric power network during the last 50 years has caused an increase in electrocutions on power lines (Garrido, 2019) (Box 1). Electrocutions have been identified as a major threat in Morocco (Godino et al., 2016; UICN and DEF, 2020) and Algeria (Abdelguerfi and Ramdane, 2003), but it must be common across Poisoning could be limiting recovery of threatened populations of scavengers

BOX 1

在文檔中 The conservation status and distribution of the breeding birds of prey of North Africa (頁 33-42)