Counting Yelkouan Shearwaters in the Bosphorus: call for volunteers

The Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan, a potential candidate for ACAP listing, is endemic to the Mediterranean.  Its global status assessment is complicated by the fact that little information exists for the species from Turkey; although birds pass through the Bosphorus from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea every year on migration.

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Alex Olle

“The spectacular migration in the Bosphorus, which occurs in early February, is a total mystery.  Except that they occur in high numbers, very little is known about these birds passing the Bosphorus, such as where are they coming from and going to.  The most interesting part of the migration is the synchrony of thousands of birds; they all pass in a very short time” (click here).

The Yelkouan Shearwater Project–Turkey has monitored this migration for the last five years with 90 000 counted in 2014 (click here).  The project is now organizing the third Coastal Count Marathon over 1 - 7 February 2016 with a call for volunteers to help with counting.

Volunteer here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 December 2015