Strandtellingen van aangespoelde vogels tijdens de winter 2006/2007
Verstraete, H.; Stienen, E.W.M.; Van de walle, M. (2007). Strandtellingen van aangespoelde vogels tijdens de winter 2006/2007. Rapport van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, 2007.21. Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek: Belgium. 43 pp.
Part of: Rapport van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek. Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek: Brussel. ISSN 1782-9054
This report presents the results of the beached bird surveys performed along the Flemish coast during winter 2006-2007 under the authority of the Flemish Agency for Maritime and Coast Affairs (AMDK-AK) and in close cooperation with the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ).During the past winter almost 451 km coastline was inspected for beached birds. A total of 447 birds were found washed ashore being 0.99 birds per km coastline. This figure is comparable to the mean numbers that stranded on the Flemmish beaches since 1992. Auks and gulls were the dominant species found, while the proportion of oiled auks was remarkably low. The oil-rate for Guillemot was 'only' 17%, which is the lowest oil rate measured in this species since 1962. Although this fits the decreasing trend in the proportion of oiled Guillemots found along the Flemmish coast since 1962, the combination with a high density of oiled birds could indicate problems with food provisioning. Hopefully further pathological studies of the found carcasses will throw some light on this.
