Surfbirds News: BirdLife International Archives
African Swallow-tailed Kite
Chelictinia riocourii
??? one of the largest bird of prey roosts ever found.
Lesser Kestrel ?? Kit Day
“One evening, I saw the passage of some 300 birds flying over,” said Philippe Pilard of LPO, who discovered the site in January 2007. “The next evening I saw 1,300 falcons fly over. I therefore decided to follow them, which was only possible on foot.”
“I first walked 10 kilometres -even crossing rivers by canoe- and finally found the Lesser Kestrel roost, along with the African Swallow-tailed Kites.”
The existence of communal roosts during the non-breeding season -sometimes involving several thousand individuals- has been observed in a number of different countries including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. However conservationists have described this enormous roost -altogether some 45,000 insectivorous raptors- as exceptional. |
