Carlo Catoni

ornis italica, rome, italy

Twenty years after the last national survey conducted in early 2000 s another snapshot of the Italian breeding population of Lanner falcon Falco biarmicus feldeggi is showed The status of Lanner changed from vulnerable to endangered (Italian Red List) due to habitat transformation (mainly in agricultural landscapes), human disturbance (recreational...

Spatial segregation of foraging areas among conspecifics breeding in neighbouring colonies has been observed in several colonial vertebrates and is assumed to originate from competition and information use. Segregation between foraging individuals breeding in different parts of a same colony has comparatively received limited attention, even though...

Oceanic mesoscale systems are characterized by inherent variability. Climatic change adds entropy to this system, making it a highly variable environment in which marine species live. Being at the higher levels of the food chain, predators maximize their performance through plastic foraging strategies. Individual variability within a population and...

Mate choice is a key process in animals to optimize the fitness benefits of reproduction, and it is generally guided by phe-notypic features of potential partners that mirror reproductive abilities. Assortative mating occurs when there is within-pair selection for specific functional traits that can confer fitness benefits. Assortative mating can b...

The breeding period is a demanding and time-constrained phase for migratory bird species. Breeding outcome and duration can interact with the extent and duration of post-breeding movements, resulting in individual differences in space use ultimately influencing later stages of the annual cycle. We present space-use and home range estimates during t...

Migratory behaviour in birds shows a remarkable variability at species, population and individual levels. Short-distance migrants often adopt a partial migratory strategy and tend to have a flexible migration schedule that allows a more effective response to extreme environmental variations. Weather seasonality and environmental heterogeneity have...

Foraging specialization, whereby animals exploit only a minor fraction of the population's foraging home range or trophic niche, may arise as a response to increasing levels of intraspecific competition. This phenomenon may be particularly frequent in colonial species, when individuals breed in large aggregations and are constrained to exploit shar...

Capsule Grey Gulls Leucophaeus modestus breed in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and perform nocturnal commuting flights between their inland nesting sites and the coast in order to forage. Some aspects of the gullś flight patterns and routes remain unknown. Aim Determine the patterns and the routes of the commuting flights of Grey Gulls breeding in a...

Spatial segregation of foraging areas among conspecifics breeding in different colonies has been observed in several colonial vertebrates and is assumed to originate from competition and information use. Segregation between sub-groups of foraging animals from the same colony (hereafter sub-colonies) has comparatively received limited attention, eve...

Sensitivity of marine ecosystems to human disturbance leads to an increasing need to devise effective conservation initiatives. One key conservation leverage tool is the establishment of marine protected areas, which can be derived by inspecting where marine sentinel species forage in their most sensitive life cycle phase (reproduction). Depending...

Gradients of agricultural intensification in agroecosystems may determine uneven resource availability for predators relying on these man-made habitats. In turn, these variations in resource availability may affect predators' habitat selection patterns, resulting in context-dependent habitat selection. We assessed the effects of gradients of landsc...

Migratory behaviour in birds shows a remarkable variability at species, population and individual levels. Short-distance migrants, in particular, often adopt a partial migratory strategy and tend to have a rather flexible migration schedule which allows them to respond more effectively to extreme environmental variations, like those due to climate...

Conventional bio-logging techniques used for ethological studies of seabirds have their limitations when studying detailed behaviours at sea. This study uses animal-borne video cameras to reveal fne-scale behaviours, associations with conspecifcs and other species and interactions with fshery vessels during foraging of a Mediterranean seabird. The...

Flexibility in foraging behaviour is a key individual trait, promoting adaptive responses to changing environmental conditions. Such flexibility can be especially pronounced in marine predators that forage in highly dynamic environments and pursue ephemeral and patchily distributed prey. Individual characteristics, social interactions and resource...

Background: Consistent inter-individual differences in behavioural phenotypes may entail differences in energy efficiency and expenditure, with different fitness payoffs. In colonial-breeding species, inter-individual differences in foraging behaviour may evolve to reduce resource use overlap among conspecifics exploiting shared foraging areas. Fu...

Burhinus oedicnemus

Background: Changes and increased mechanisation of agricultural practices have infuenced the biodiversity composition of farmland habitats and caused a decline of bird communities in many European countries. The removal of shrubs and large trees rich in natural cavities, has also led to a drastic decrease in nest site availability for cavity-nestin...

During the breeding season, seabird foraging trips are constrained by nest attendance schedule and are necessarily colony centred. Oceanographic cues play a major role in the choice of foraging areas to minimize the time spent away from the nest. Here, we analysed the foraging tracks of Black‐vented Shearwaters Puffinus opisthomelas during the incu...

Different weather conditions are known to affect bird migration, yet the influence of fog and low clouds on migrating birds has been rarely examined so far, and hence, their impact on bird movement is not well understood. Fog avoidance could be a consequence of visual limitations within the fog or may be the outcome of deteriorated soaring conditio...

Background Fishing activities can influence foraging behaviour of many seabird species worldwide. Seabirds are attracted by fishing vessels which can facilitate access to demersal fish as a novel food resource that otherwise would be unavailable. On the other hand, intense fishing activities cause depletion of fish stocks with a reduction of natura...

Fishing activities can influence foraging behaviour of many seabird species worldwide. Seabirds are attracted by fishing vessels which can facilitate access to demersal fish as a novel food source otherwise unavailable. However, although it is well known that many seabirds interact with fisheries, the effects of discard availability on seabirds for...

During the breeding season, among ocean wanderers like the shearwaters, foraging trips are constrained by nest attendance schedule and are necessarily colony centered. Nonetheless, oceanographic cues play a major role in the choice of foraging areas to minimize the time spent away from the nest. We tracked Black-vented Shearwaters (Puffinus opistho...

Billions of migrating birds travel between their breeding and over-wintering areas twice a year, encountering various environmental conditions along their migration routes. Wind is of utmost importance for birds as wind speed and direction may strongly affect the birds’ flight speed and metabolism. Specifically, tailwinds were found to initiate fli...

Il Mediterraneo centrale rappresenta una delle principali rotte migratorie utilizzate dagli uccelli che si muovono tra l'Africa e l'Europa (Zalles & Bildstein 2000). In quest'area lo Stretto di Messina rappresenta il luogo in cui convergono il maggior numero di individui in migrazione sia durante la primavera sia durante l'autunno. Lo Stretto diven...

Negli ultimi venti anni oltre 600 nidi artificiali per varie specie di uccelli sono stati installati sui tralicci dell’alta tensione in diverse regioni del Paese interessando circa 800 km di linee elettriche. In particolare, le installazioni più numerose sono state effettuate nel Lazio, Toscana ed Emilia Romagna ma tratti di linee sono stati util...

In the last decades, changes in agricultural practices have modified the landscape structure and have influenced the biodiversity composition of farmland habitats, leading to effects on populations of farmland and grassland bird species. Here, we focused on an emblematic insectivorous bird species of agricultural landscapes, the European roller...

The identification of feeding events is crucial to our understanding of the foraging ecology of seabirds. Technology has made small devices, such as time-depth recorders (TDRs) and accelerometers available. However, TDRs might not be sensitive enough to identify shallow dives, whereas accelerometers might reveal more subtle behaviours at a smaller...

Introduced predators have played a detrimental role on the populations trends of many seabird species around the world, particularly on islands. Natividad Island, in the Mexican Pacific., hosts 95% of the world population of the Blackvented Shearwater (Puffinus opisthomelas). Introduced cats were eradicated in 2000 when population was estimated in...

In recent years, the possibility to track large numbers of seabirds has driven the development of several methods to determine foraging areas from GPS only data. These models analyse gps locations and use data such as speed, trajectory and turning angle to locate in time and space some basic behaviour of seabirds, such as foraging, flight and resti...

Seasonal differences in raptor migration over the Strait of Messina

Recent technology has made available small and accurate devices such as accelerometers and Time Depth Recorders (TDRs) which can be deployed on marine birds for several days. While TDRs have been specifically designed for measuring depth, accelerometers are increasingly used to identify body movements and behaviour. Sometimes a TDR might not be sen...

Variables affecting the choice of migrating European honey buzzards to fly over a flat highland or to outflank it by flying over steep slopes and deep valleys were tested. Radar located at a Mediterranean bottleneck enabled collection of raptor tracks. Variables included the effects of weather, flock size, timeof day, and ground speed of buzzards....

Billions of migrating birds travel twice a year between their breeding and overwintering areas during which they encounter various environmental conditions. Wind has utmost importance for migrating birds as wind speed and direction may strongly affect the speed and the metabolic rate of flight. Specifically, tailwind assistance (TWA) during migrati...

Uso del radar per il monitoraggio della migrazione notturna e diurna

Il radar rivela l'influenza della nebbia sul comportamento migratorio degli uccelli

Summer primary and secondary moult were investigated in four species of passerines, Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros, Linnet Linaria cannabina and Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta, in a mountain environment in central Italy. For each species we determined mean starting date and duration of both primary and secon...

The distribution of seabirds at sea is influenced by physical, ecological and anthropogenic factors such as sea depth, prey distribution, intra-specific competition and commerical fishing activities. We quantified the foraging habitat preferences of Scopoli's Shearwater Calonectris diomedia in the Mediterranean Sea. We analysed habitat preferences...

Raptor migration is widely studied across different regions of the world. Visual observations are the most widespread method of investigation involving dozens of watch-sites since the 1930s. However, raptor observations can be limited by distance, topography, weather and time of the day. Along the mountain chains, raptors often reach high flight al...

Gliding speed of raptors was supposed to be influenced by the birds morphology and wea-ther conditions. However, a recent study showed that flight speeds of various gliding raptors con-verge to a narrow range. We compared ground-speed (resulting from gliding and sustained flight) of migrating raptors using a Marine Surveillance Radar set horizontal...

During the last decades there has been a growing number of radar applications for ornithology. In addition to the traditional use for monitoring migrating birds, radars have been used in airports to reduce the potential risk of bird collision with aircrafts and alongpower lines and wind mills for assessing the collision risk with these manmade s...

Seabird movements during foraging trips and their preference for particular areas have recently been the focus of many studies aimed at gaining a better understanding of the ecological requirements of several species. During the last decade, the use of new devices, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and geo-locator loggers, has allowed...

L'uso del radar in ornitologia ha conosciuto negli ultimi anni un numero crescente di applicazioni. In aggiunta ai tradizionali impieghi per il monitoraggio del traffico aviario durante le migrazioni la tecnica è stata di recente utilizzata per il rilevamento di uccelli in movimento in prossimità di aeroporti (per la valutazione del rischio di coll...

We analysed the patterns of movement and habitat use of Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea diomedea) from two colonies in the central Mediterranean Sea: the island of Linosa and the Tremiti Archipelago. The colony of Linosa is placed in a rather pelagic environment, being about 160 km distant from the coasts of both Sicily and Tunisia, while...

We provide here new methods of sexing and ageing the snow finch (Montifringilla nivalis), a bird localised on Palaearctic mountain ranges. Between 2003 and 2009 we caught, ringed, measured and took pictures of 108 individuals in order to study the development of plumage among different ages and sex classes. In particular we focused on the pattern o...

Seabirds are the most threatened of all bird groups and their status has deteriorated faster over the last decades. Through the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) programme, BirdLife International aims to identify key areas for the conservation of seabird species. LIPU-BirdLife Italy is working at the national level to identify the IBAs in the marine envi...

As a small passerine typical of several Palaearctic mountain ranges, the Snow Finch Montifringilla nivalis is susceptible to climate change and studies into its ecology are badly needed. Data on biometric measurements and moult parameters are essential to underpin ecological studies and the aim of this study was to provide such data for a central I...

The concept of optimal foraging has been used to show how animals can increase their fitness by actively regulating the ingestion of nutrients or by avoiding detrimental plant metabolites, such as alkaloids. There is, however, considerably less information available on whether and, if so, how animals actively select beneficial secondary compounds,...

Signalling theory predicts that signals should fulfil three fundamental requirements: high detectability, discriminability and, most importantly, reliability. Melanins are the most common pigments in animals. Correlations between genotypic and phenotypic qualities of the sender and size and morph of melanin-based traits are known, but it is content...

The expression of most life history traits, such as immunity, growth and the development of sexual signals, is negatively affected by high levels of oxidative stress. Dietary antioxidants can reduce oxidative stress and have therefore been the focus of numerous studies in behavioural and evolutionary ecology in the last few decades. Most of this re...

Summary 1. The intake of antioxidants confers health benefits to consumers by reducing oxidative stress and improving immune functions. Therefore, several life-history traits such as growth, immunity, senescence and the expression of sexually selected traits might be affected by dietary antioxidants. 2. Flavonoids are strong antioxidants in vitro ,...

Summary 1. Fruits are among the most antioxidant-rich foods in nature and thus can be important dietary sources for combating oxidative stress in animals and humans. 2. Because fruits are pigmented by important plant antioxidants such as anthocyanins and caro- tenoids, frugivores may be able to gauge the antioxidant value of a fruit by its colour....

Dagli anni '70 il Nord America ha visto nascere un gran numero di stazioni di inanellamento per la cattura di rapaci notturni migratori. A partire dal 1986, l'introduzione di un richiamo registrato o “playback” (Erdman e Brinker 1997) ha incrementato il tasso di cattura di 4-10 volte rispetto al sistema di cattura passivo (Evans 1997). Oggi in Nord...