Mountain boots, binoculars and lanterns to help in the census of nocturnal birds of prey

Volunteers are guided by teams of experts who help them to identify the singing of males during their matting season.
Volunteers are guided by teams of experts who help them to identify the singing of males during their matting season.
Institutional
(10/01/2019)

Jacket, binoculars, mountain boots, lantern, guide of sounds to identify birdsʼ singing, a notebook and pencils are the recommended elements for the volunteers who take part once more in the census of nocturnal birds of prey in Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt i lʼObac. This initiative is promoted by the Biodiversity Monitoring Center of Mediterranean Mountains (CMBMM), an entity created in 2016 by the University of Barcelona and the Provincial Council of Barcelona, led by the lecturer Joan Real, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the UB (IRBio).

Volunteers are guided by teams of experts who help them to identify the singing of males during their matting season.
Volunteers are guided by teams of experts who help them to identify the singing of males during their matting season.
Institutional
10/01/2019

Jacket, binoculars, mountain boots, lantern, guide of sounds to identify birdsʼ singing, a notebook and pencils are the recommended elements for the volunteers who take part once more in the census of nocturnal birds of prey in Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt i lʼObac. This initiative is promoted by the Biodiversity Monitoring Center of Mediterranean Mountains (CMBMM), an entity created in 2016 by the University of Barcelona and the Provincial Council of Barcelona, led by the lecturer Joan Real, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the UB (IRBio).

This census is a participative activity, open to all those interested in nature, biodiversity conservation, birds of prey and natural spaces. Two areas of the park will be monitored three times until this February. To work on the census of the population of nocturnal birds of prey in Sant Llorenç and to see their evolution over time, volunteers are guided by teams of experts who help them to identify the singing of males during their matting season. Once the census is finished, the members of CMBMM will analyse the data provided by observers and will create a report on the census of biodiversity of birds of prey to be shared with all the participants in this activity.

The Natural Park in Sant Llorenç del Munt i lʼObac is the natural habitat of many species of birds of prey that live in forests and cliffs, such as the tawny owl (Strix aluco) and the eagle owl (Bubo bubo). The team of the Conservation Biology led by the lecturer Joan Real, member of the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, started the first census of birds of prey in this natural park more than thirty years ago, a task that was essential to identify one of the densest populations of tawny owl in Catalonia. According to recent population data, the eagle owl population is declining while the tawny owl has been maintained over time. 

Located in masia de la Mata, the office of the Natural Park in Sant Llorenç del Munt i lʼObac, the Biodiversity Monitoring Center of Mediterranean Mountains is a pioneer initiative in Catalonia and in Spain in the study field of management and preservation of biodiversity. The objective of the center is to create indicators of biodiversity with monitoring protocols to be implemented in the first phase in the Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i lʼObac as a pilot area, and which can be extrapolated to other areas with Mediterranean ecosystems through scientific and institutional collaboration.