Yelkouan Shearwater Counts (January - February)

Since it is not feasible to conclude with the result of one-point counts that we’re avoiding double counts, we’ve planned a few counts from several points to make sure that we are not counting Yelkouan flocks twice. In this regard the project team performed the second several point count at the Bosphorus after 2011, January. We chose the best 4 points that has logistic advantages and that the distance between both sides is not so far. The points from the north to the south were located in Rumeli Kavağı, Sarıyer, Rumeli Hisarı and Salacak, respectively. Teams didn’t have any entanglement in the first three points whereas Salacak team had to make higher efforts because of relatively further distance between two coasts and the behavior of Yelkouan flocks in this area. The results were positive as the first. Seems like we the Yelkouan Shearwater flocks that we’ve counted didn’t return today. But it is important to keep performing several point counts to approve these results. The period between January and February - in which the breeding activities of Shearwaters are started- is very important for Yelkouan Shearwater passage in the Bosphorus. We have been obtaining relatively low numbers than previous years in this February but the timeline for fieldwork is very full. So far, the team performed coastal - sometimes consecutive day - counts at every weekend in February. We are planning a ship-based count for the last weekend of February and will be counting Yelkouans at Rumeli Hisarı as usual.