Six species of birds have ceased to nest on the island over the past 70 years. This greatly reduced the stability of the Cyprus ecosystem. The problem was told by NPO Birdlife Cyprus.
Since the 1950s, Cyprus bio-melodies have lost: black vulture, steppe emptyga, marble chirk, black-bearing rheasty, and an olupka. The last imperial eagles died out-they have ceased to be fixed in Cyprus since the 1980s.
Black vulture
One of the largest stamps in the world, the wingspan reaches three meters. During the twentieth century, a bird, which used to live in Central Europe and the Mediterranean, gradually disappeared from the continent due to the reduction of food and poisoning available to it. In Spain, it was possible to restore the population of black vultures, but this example is more likely to be an exception. Today, the black vulture lives mainly in Central Asia and in the Middle East.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikipedia.org, License CC by-SA 4.0
In Cyprus, several pairs of black vultures nested on large old pines in the forests of Troodos and Pentaktilos disappeared around the mid -sixties.
Dipper
The Olyapka dives perfectly and generally has amazing skills for eating from under the water, for example, can go along the bottom of the river, even against the current. The bird feeds on a small fish and water invertebrates.
Photo: David Menke/ Wikipedia.org
In Cyprus, the olips nested along mountain rivers. The population began to die out in the 1940-1950s. This was probably due to the widespread use of highly toxic DDT insecticide in reservoirs to combat malarial mosquitoes. This pesticide was banned in most countries in the 1970s, but its by-products remain in the soil and groundwater to this day.
Today, Olyapka lives in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Central Asia.
Eastern Imperial Eagle, or burial ground
It lives in Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, Central, South and East Asia. In Cyprus, burial grounds nested in the forests of Troodos and Pentadactylos.
Photo: Sumeet Moghe / Wikipedia.org, License CC by-SA 3.0
The last time the reproduction of this species in Cyprus was recorded in 1985. Birds died in large quantities due to a collision with power lines, illegal shooting and destruction of places for nesting.
Steppe empty
A non -specialist can easily confuse the steppe empty with her better relative, an ordinary desert, which is still represented in Cyprus in sufficient quantities. However, unlike ordinary emptys, which can usually be seen one by one or in pairs, the steppe empty - that is a social look that propagates in colonies and hunts in groups.
Photo: Lesser Kestrel / Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0 license, Cropped
In the second half of the twentieth century, the population of the steppe emptys decreased sharply throughout Europe. This was mainly due to the loss of the environment and the reproduction places, the intensification of agriculture. The widespread and often indiscriminate use of pesticides led to a reduction in insect population, the main source of food of the steppe empty.
The last time the chicks of the steppe emptys were seen in Cyprus in 1929. Today, this bird is still visiting the island, as its migration route runs through it, but does not nest here. The bird lives year -round in several areas of North Africa, winter in Western, East and South Africa, multiplies in Southern Europe and Central Asia.
Chernobryuhiye grouse
This is a shy bird living in deserts and arid plains. In Cyprus, she multiplied until the 1970s in small quantities in the most barren areas of the Mesuria Valley, mainly between Nikosia and Larnaka. However, since then, her population in Cyprus and throughout Europe began to sharply decrease due to the intensification of agriculture and shooting.
Photo: ron khight / wikipedia.org, license CC by 2.0
There is an assumption that black -bearing ripples drive their nests in several places of the buffer zone. But this has not been confirmed in any way, since it is impossible to undertake relevant research.
Today, Ryabok has become a rare and almost random guest in Cyprus during migration. The nearest area where it nests is located in Central Turkey, some individuals winter in Syria and Northern Iraq.
Marble Chirik
It lives in a limited area from the Western Mediterranean to Central Asia. This is a nomadic species of ducks, preferring shallow and seasonal freshwater or brackish water-bolot lands.
Photo: Diliff / Wikipedia.org, CC by-SA 3.0 license
In the twentieth century, the global population of this species was sharply reduced due to loss of reproduction and hunting places. In Cyprus, Chirik was the last time laid eggs in the 1950s. Its loss is due to the fact that many previous water-bell grounds were dried in the framework of the fight against malaria.
The text is prepared based on the materials of the NPO Birdlife Cyprus.
This article was first published in the "Vestnik Cyprus" on October 6, 2023. Part of the information could be outdated.
