COMMON CRANE (Grus grus) COUNT IN EXTREMADURA (SW SPAIN). WINTERS: 2012/13 and 2013/14

JOSÉ A. ROMÁN ÁLVAREZ* , MANUEL GOMEZ CALZADO ** & JAVIER PRIETA ***(coordinators) *tranaroman@gmail.com, **mgcalzado@gmail.com, ***javierprieta@gmail.com *c/ Miguel Antolín, 17, 3º A, 06200 Almendralejo. Extremadura. Spain; 606371896

grusextremadura@gmail.com ABSTRACT This article analyses the results of the 2012/13 and 2013/14 winter Common Crane (Grus grus) counts in Extremadura (southwest Spain). Two counts were conducted each winter (December and January) in the three sectors into which the region as a whole has been divided (Tagus Sector, Guadiana Sector and Central Sector). A total of 101.282 birds were counted in December 2012 and 128.821 in December 2013. The January count for 2013 was 88.244 and 107.925 for 2014. The trend seems to be upwards, especially in the Central Zone. Key words: Counts. Extremadura. Grus grus. RESUMEN Se analizan los resultados de la población invernante de la Grulla Común (Grus grus) en Extremadura durante los periodos 2013/13 y 2013/14. Se realizaron dos censos en cada periodo (diciembre y enero) en los tres sectores en los que ha sido dividida la región (Sector Tajo, Sector Guadiana y Sector Zona Centro). Fueron contadas un total de 101.282 aves en diciembre de 2012 y 128.821 en diciembre de 2013.En enero de 2013 se contabilizaron 88.244 grullas y 107.925 en enero de 2014. Se observa un crecimiento continuado de la población, sobre todo en la Zona Centro. Palabras claves: Censos, Extremadura, Grus grus. INTRODUCTION Extremadura boasts south-west Europe’s biggest wintering Common Crane (Grus grus) population. Early records (PÉREZ CHISCANO, FERNÁNDEZ CRUZ, 1971) and successive counts (FERNÁNDEZ CRUZ et al. 1981, MUÑOZ PULIDO et al. 1988, ADENEX 1989, 90, 91, 92, SANCHEZ et al. 93, ADENEX 98, DE LA CRUZ & MONTOYA 2004, PRIETA & DEL MORAL 2007, ROMÁN & GOMEZ CALZADO 2013, ROMÁN et al. 2013.) have all brought out Extremadura’s importance for cranes, accounting for 54% of the Spanish population. To update figures of wintering birds, we organised a first count in winter 2012/13, which then continued in 2013/14. This paper presents the results of both counts. METHODS The counts took in a total of 64 sites covered by 80 collaborators. Two counts were made each winter (December and January). The region has been broken up into three sectors: Tagus Sector, the Guadiana Sector and the Central Sector. The Tagus Sector

takes in the birds wintering in the province of Cáceres topped up with some sites in the neighbouring province of Toledo to include border-crossing cranes that roost in Toledo but spend the day feeding in Extremadura. The Guadiana Sector takes in the birds of the province of Badajoz. The Central Sector is made up by birds of the Vegas Altas of Guadiana (a 16-municipality district of northern Badajoz, bordering on Cáceres) which move between both provinces; it is also the area where wintering cranes entering the region tend to congregate. Two different counting methods were chosen: traditional roost counts plus daytime feeding sites. In general roost counts were conducted in both provinces with daytime feeding-site counts in the Central Zone. This is because the latter zone is a vast, largely-flat area of irrigated farming, especially maize and rice, intermingled with a patchwork of dehesas and criss-crossed by many paths. Roosting sites here tend to be more fickle so the daytime counting method was chosen. The results obtained from this method after five counts in each winter vouch for the suitability and efficacy of this method for this and similar sectors. RESULTS In both winters the December count was higher than the January count since cranes are still entering the region, especially in the central zone, which funnels in birds wintering in other latitudes. January is more strictly a wintering month, so counts are lower, probably because they use less accessible areas than the central zone. The December 2012 crane count came out as 101.282; the December 2013 count at 128.821. The January 2013 count was 88.244; the January 2014 count was 107.925. The trend seems to be significantly upwards from one year to the other: 27.539 up in December 2013 on the previous year and 19.681 up in January 2014. Broken down by the three sectors, the Tagus Sector records an 8.323 increase in December and a 11.644 increase in January. The Guadiana Sector records a difference of 374 birds in December and 948 in January. The Central Sector records a difference of 19.925 birds in December and 7.089 in January. Note that some sites in the Tagus Sector could not be covered in the January count; hence the difference in the number of birds from one year to another; all scheduled sites were counted in December. The Guadiana Sector holds very steady throughout the study period. The biggest increase is recorded in the Central Sector, with greater variability in December due to ongoing migration; the January count shows the real increase in the population. In general we would estimate the Tagus Sector population to be about 30.000 birds at the moment, the Guadiana Sector weighing in with about 17.000. Both sectors record a pretty stable number of birds, whereas the Central Sector shows a year-on-year increase, accounting for 60% of the total count, followed by the Tagus Sector with 26% and the Guadiana Sector with 14%. There are no great crop changes in this sector although there is a trend of replacing maize with rice. This translates into a sizeable reduction in both wooded and unwooded pastureland. Unirrigated cereal fields are also being transformed into olive groves and intensive orchards, which cranes never use for feeding. DEC-12 DEC-13 JAN-13 JAN-14 TAGUS S. 21092 29415 15743 27387 GUADIANA S. 16548 16174 16125 17073 CENTRAL S. 62442 83132 56376 63465

CONCLUSIONS The results suggest an Extremadura wintering population in 2012/13 of about 100.000 cranes, this figure then increasing the next winter to 128.821, reflecting the upward trend of wintering cranes in the region.

YEAR 1979 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1998 1999 2001 2002 2004 2007 2012 2013

RESULT 4116 6135 7768 8780 8893 17153 29648 26901 42421 73551 63264 60158 57445 89500 101282 128821

SITE LOCAL DISTRICT DEC-12 JAN-13 DEC-13 JAN-14

Rosarito Vva.Vera, Candeleda, Oropesa 1200 3.090 4.267

Laguna del Palancoso Navalmoral Mata 378 2813 1.219 4.497

Cañada Venero Talayuela 170 364 128 372

Valdecañas(Aguijón) El Gordo 2492 663 2.862 1.680

Valdecañas(Talaverilla) Peraleda Mata 1.527 0

Valdecañas(Bohonal I.) Bohonal de Ibor 469 360

El Verdugal Oropesa 2.223 2.856

Laguna del Grullo Calzada Oropesa 3007 696 2.163 1.351

Laguna Ejido Grande Navalmoral Mata 0 0

Pinar Talayuela (r.Tietar) Talayuela 463 ---

Rio Tiétar/Monfragüe Valdeíñigos 702 2700 2.495 139

Gabriel y Galán Zarza de Granadilla 2166 2.274 930

El Borbollón Santibáñez el Bajo 5095 5000 5.375 6.352

Cuatro Lugares Talaván 386 148 237 138

Tejarejos-Cuartón Monroy 978 703 918

El Águila Torrecillas Tiesa 320 800 420 639

Rio Tozo/Labradillo Torrecillas Tiesa 427 437 ---

Arroyo Casillas Trujillo 147 0 ---

El Campazo Aldea del Obispo 217 300

Clavería y Mortera Brozas 54 --- ---

Dh Herreruela Herreruela 328 250 ---

Membrio y Salorino Salorino/Membrio 567 ---

Dh Hornos y Rehoyos Brozas 85 --- ---

Ponce Brozas 87 --- ---

Belbís y Navarra Brozas 235 --- ---

El Galaperal Brozas 815 --- ---

El Galaperal II Brozas 120 --- ---

Sector Brozas Varios T.M. 1.250

Las Seguras Cáceres 25 315 ---

Dehesa Aldea del Cano Aldea del Cano 1248 1.071 866

Las Herguijuelas Caceres 1595 2559 897 472

Arroyomolinos de Mchez. Ayomolinos. Mchez 113 0

Tagus Sector 21092 15743 29.415 27.387

El Zangallón Alburquerque 670 1584 611 711

Morantes La Roca Sierra 209 --

Los Canchales Mérida 2633 1446 4.630 2.537

Las Merinillas Valverde Leganés 475 916 844 883

Lagunas de la Albuera Torre Miguel Sesmero 662 533 1.843 2.071

Cuncos Villanueva del Fresno 1144 1902 1.173 892

Cerros Verdes Mérida 16 88

Los Codrios/La Viciosilla Palomas 370 29 400 139

El Monte Villalba de los Barros 28 3 49

El Moral Hinojosa del Valle 313 550 494 231

Usagre/Martanegra Usagre 280 195 108 0

El Raposo Calzadilla Barros 300 0

La Osa Retamal de Llerena 322 1189 305 152

El Rosal Peraleda Zaucejo 1388 634 2.350 1.313

Malajuncia/Las Tiendas Llerena 918 720 992 1.205

Dehesa de San Pedro Casas de Reina 608 605 145 346

Almansa Valdecaballeros 765 875 487 1.287

Recula Emb.de Orellana Casas de D. Pedro 67 487

Dehesa Fernan Nuñez Siruela 788

Badija N Castuera 1819 39 157

Badija E Quintana Serena 15 605

Puerto Mejoral Benquerencia Serena 1246 52 730

Almorchón Cabeza del Buey 1077 323 1.278

Embalse de la Serena Zarza Capìlla 120 152 204

Dh de las Yuntas Capilla 821 417 319

Las Moruchas Magacela 44 0

Las Torralbas Monterrubio Serena 561 143 347

Las Bodeguillas Casas de D. Pedro 435 3 160

Dh de la Guarda La Guarda 150 0 94

La Serena 6000

Charca Valverde Villanueva Serena 9 0

Guadiana Sector 16548 16125 16.174 17.073

Sector Guareña Guareña 283 759 454 3.366

Sectores Yelbes-Medellín Guareña/Medellín 7150 8452 3.679 7.075

Sector El Toconal Don Benito 600 765

Sector Valdehornillos S. Amalia/D. Benito/Miajadas, Almohar 11454 13338 9.081 11.868

Sector Villar de Rena Villar R./D. Benito, Miajadas, Campo L. 5901 3937 8.268 1.157

Sector Palazuelo Villar Rena/Madrigalejo 2065 372 4.036 1.073

Sector Guadalperales Madrigalejo 1818 5994 12.437 6.304

Sector Logrosán Logrosán 4243 4644 16.537 2.433

Sector Acedera- Puercas Acedera/Don Benito 2285 3300 3.434 2.140

Sector Casahitos Madrigalejo 4900 5790 10.828 18.526

Sector Vegas Altas N. Pela/Vva. De la Serena 19808 5270 11.911 7.695

Sector Rañas-C.D.Pedro Nav. Pela/Casas D. Pedro 2643 4385 1.791 1.063

Central Zone Sector 62442 55614 83.128 63.465

EXTREMADURA 101282 88244 128.645 107.925 COUNTING TEAM The results shown herein are the result of the collective work by the persons shown below. Our heartfelt thanks to one and all. Tagus Sector (Cáceres): Coordinator: Javier Prieta: Dave Langlois, Manuel Flores, Marcelino Tirado, Manuel Azabal, Jorge Pedro Durán, Sergio Méndez, José María Guerrero, Amalia Sánchez; Amelia Hernández, Carmen Flores, Javier Prieta, Manuel García Rey, Pepe Guisado, Pilar Goñi, Jesús Montero, Fabián Hernández; Goyo Naharro, César Clemente, Miguel Toldón, José Mª Hernández, Agustín Iglesias, José Carlos López, Sergio Mayordomo, Marta Gómez, Martin Kelsey, Javier Esteban, Vicente Risco, Santiago Cáceres, Neil Renwick, Helios Dalmau, Antonio Galán, Jasper Quak, Lucía Beijismit; Marcelino Cardiallaguet, Guardería de Medio Ambiente, Agustín Martín, José A. Pérez, Carlos Fernández, Estela Herguido, Manuel Iglesias, Víctor Ginés, Andrés Maestre, Francisco J. Caballero, José L. Caballero, Jesús Sánchez, Isabel González, Andrea Puerto. Guadiana Sector(Badajoz): Coordinator: José Antonio Román; Luis M. Venancio, Justo Tarriño, Godfried Schreur, Pedro Schreur, Elvira del Viejo, María del Viejo, Francisco Lopo;, Francisco Lopo Sánchez, Juan Carlos Núñez, José Luis Bautista, Lucas Navareño, Antonia Cangas, Carolina Climent, Iván Sánchez, Ricardo Casas, Francisco García, Jesús Solana, Jacobo Hernández, Jerónimo Milán, José Antonio Román, Luis Antonio Asuar, Francisco Montaño, Antonio Núñez, Alfonso Pérez, Ángel Sánchez, Luis Sánchez, Roberto Sánchez, Francisco Macias, José Mª Álvarez, Francisco Bernáldez; José Ángel Sánchez, Rafael Albertos, Luis Salguero, Gustavo Gahete, Miguel Corvillo, José María Traverso; Guardería de Medio Ambiente, Manuel Gómez, Manuel Calderón, Yasmina Annichiarico, Natalia Franco, Amparo Sánchez, Agustín Quintana, Víctor Manuel Quintana, Gerardo Pizarro, Fernando Pizarro. Central Sector: Coordinators: José Antonio Román & Manuel Gómez: José Mª Álvarez; Fernando Yuste, José A. Román, Juan Pablo Prieto, José Ángel Sánchez, Marc Gálvez,

José Guerra, Emilio Peña, Manuel Gómez, Francisco Borja García, José Luis Ciudad, Fernando Salas, Antonio Torrijo. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.- We would like to thank Dave Langlois for the translation of this report. BIBLIOGRAPHY Alonso, J.A., Alonso, J.C. 1990:” Distribución y demografía de la Grulla común (Grus grus) en España”. Fernández Cruz, M. (coord.) 1982: “La migración e invernada de la Grulla común (Grus grus) en España. Resultados del Proyecto Grus (Crane Project)”. Ardeola 26-27:11-64. Madrid. Fernandez Cruz, M., Román, J.A., Boroviczeny, I. 1987:” The wintering of Common Cranes in Spain”. Muñoz R., Alonso J.A., Alonso J.C., Román, J.A., Sánchez, A., Ferrero, J.F.1988: “Censo de la Grulla Común (Grus grus) en España: Invierno 1987-88. Ecología nº 2: 269-274. Prieta, J., del Moral, J.C. 2008.” La Grulla común invernante en España”. Población en 2007 y método de censo. SEO/Birdlife. Madrid. Román, J.A., Gómez Calzado, M. 2013: “Invernada de la Grulla Común (Grus grus) Resultados del censo de diciembre 2012 en Extremadura” blog Grullas Veo, 26-03-2013. Román, J.A., Gómez Calzado, M., Prieta, J., Cardalliaguet, M.: 2013: “Censo de la Grulla Común invernante en Extremadura, diciembre 2012”. SEO/BirdLife. Sánchez, J.M., Sánchez, A., Fernández, A. y Muñoz, A. 1993: “La Grulla común (Grus grus) en Extremadura. Estatus y relación con el suelo”. Universidad de Extremadura. Badajoz.

Common Crane in dehesa