Throughout the day?
CG: We advise people to carry out the census in the morning until the 14 o'clock, because we understand that it is during this period that birds are more easily observed in flight, walls, fences and trees. Their behavior is quite variable.
Throughout these years have you found that the common buzzards are birds sustainable, i.e. that are not in danger of extinction or not?
CG: This is a species that has a very wide distribution in Europe, buteo buteo. There are four species in Macaronesia, a specific bird in Madeira, one of the Azores, the Canaries and Green Cape. Regarding the populations of the islands there is very little information, so it is important to make this census every year to manage to determine whether they are increasing or decreasing. However, due to shortage of volunteers and small network of paths which could do, it becomes difficult to isolate all these variables, as is a number that varies from year to year. It is difficult to have a direct perception that they are increasing or decreasing, it seems for SPEA that this population is stable, but I take this opportunity to appeal the participation of a greater number of people, because only with a large number of data we will be able to have a significant sample and thus draw a conclusion of the distribution of these animals for their conservation status. An in-depth study in the region was never accomplished. This is a census which was carried out with two strands, raise awareness of environmental education and the problems related with nature. On the other hand, we would like to have a larger network of volunteers to make these censuses to further compare these varying species.
So censuses have not finished is it?
CG: It's an end-of-week that occurs throughout the year. Between March and April, it is only once a year and it was very important to have volunteers for this phase, involves only one output field and of course, our goal is to lengthen, but we know that also depends on the people to continue this type of initiatives, we have this desire.
You cataloged this bird as a subspecies how it differs from its counterparts on the mainland and other islands?
CG: The definition of subspecies is related to the site of occurrence. In terms of morphological characteristics are very similar, but in fact there are different islands and because they do not cross with the kind of the continent are called subspecies.
The common buzzard, due to lack of predators in the islands becomes a bird more apparent in relation to its counterpart on the mainland?
CG: I think it's a kind quite visible, is a matter of being aware of it and look at the sky, because every day we can view one. It is a bird of prey that lives on the island and we do the census between March and April, because it is the period when we noticed behaviors more visible. Although some people have difficulty participating because they think they have little experience, one of the objectives of these censuses is to show that anyone can participate in such activities. So we called this initiative "citizen for science" which is a type of science that is done in many countries and implicates local community involvement in such projects. It is not necessary to have detailed knowledge, because in the island there are only 3 types of censuses, the kestrel which is a small bird of prey, the common buzzards and the macarronesian sparrowhawk and everyone that has different behaviors. Anyway, people can visit our website and there are information about the methodology and the different species and thus gets a sense of how easy it is to identify and separate these species.
On average how many animals there are in the archipelago?
CG: The latest estimates realize 300 birds. However, due to the small number of volunteers and a very small area traversed, we believed that a number is underestimated, which is considerably higher than we thought. However, the data that exist does not allow us to state reliably and with a high significance level which is the exact number of birds that exist here.
http://www.spea.pt/pt/estudo-e-conservacao/censos/censo-de-milhafres-mantas/
