Wonderful inhabitants leave above the sea as well Let’s dry up and have a look!

For years now seabirds have been an inspiration for folk music and myths all across the Mediterranean countries. We have all enjoyed them from time to time flying across a vessel. They have even contributed as a very nutritive meal in days of starvation!

But how much do we really know about seabirds in the Mediterranean region?

Calonectris diomedea

The truth is that intense studies started about 15 years ago with the implementation of various LIFE projects, while studies in the sea have only started in 2004 in Spain and Portugal with Malta following in 2006 and Greece in 2007 through project LIFE ΝΑΤ/GR/00285 implemented by the Hellenic Ornithological Society.

So…which species do we meet and what are the population numbers of the birds?

The species we met the last couple of years while surveying the Northern Aegean Sea were quite many. Sixteen species in total, without counting the non-seabird species that were seen. If you were asked which one is the most common you would probably answer “the yellow-legged gull” (Larus michahellis). This big white and grey gull following the ferryboats begging for food every time it sees us on a boat…but NO! The bird with the biggest numbers in the area in the Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) with an estimate of a striking number of 164500 individuals flying around the area from May to September! It’s a relatively small dark colored bird flying nervously, like it really has to get somewhere on time, that usually passes unnoticed! The yellow-legged gulls we see, of course, are not an illusion, as they hold the second place with a number of approximately 93500 individuals in the N. Aegean Sea. On the third plece we find another beautiful shearwater. It’s the Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea). A big brownish bird, gliding smoothly along the surface of the water. And last, but not least, of the four most abundant species of the area, comes the Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). This big black bird can’t go unnoticed! You will usually meet it on rocks on the shore getting a sunbath, or gathered near these rocks in the water in big groups of youngs during spring.

As for the rest of the species, a simple reference to the ones observed during May-September 2009 shows quite a large variety Calonectris diomedea, Puffinus yelkouan, Hydrobates pelagicus, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, P. carbo, Ardea cinerea, Plegadis falcinellus, Anas platyrhynchos, Hieraaetus fasciatus, Falco eleonorae, Calidris alpina, Larus auduinii, L. genei, L. ridibundus, L. minutus, L. melanocephalus, L. michahellis, Sterna caspia, S. paradisaea, S. hirundo, S. albifrons, S. sandvicensis, Chlydonias hybrida, Apus melba, Delichon urbica, Hirundo rustica, Motacilla alba, Cettia cetti, Parus major, Passer domesticus and Fringilla coelebs.

Phalacrocorax aristotelis

But not everything is nice and easy going when you are a seabird…! Life threatening things are scattered all over the place. One of the biggest threats, in the open sea, for seabirds in our days is fishing nets. You come to see that delicious fish writhing underwater…such an easy target…and you try to grab it…too bad…it was caught in a fishing net…just like you at the moment L. But overfishing is as bad. Try to catch a fish and get caught in a net or no fish at all…hmmm… what a dilemma! Not to mention oil spills. And things are not getting better back home. Human disturbance on the breeding islets as well as introduced rats and cats threaten seabirds during reproduction.

Apart from the underwater paradise, there is another one right above it, about which we don’t know much either. And more are yet to be discovered!

Sylvia Zakkak