Resumen de Population size and breeding ecology of the Mediterranean Storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis on Illa de l’Aire, Menorca
The European Storm-petrel is a small seabird widely distributed throughout Europe. The first recorded description of this species from Menorca is from 1957 and breeding was confirmed in 1991 on Illa de l’Aire off the south-east coast of the island. Very little is known about the size of this breeding population and its breeding parameters on Menorca, which are based on casual observations. The main purpose of the present study was 1) to identify other potential new breeding storm-petrel colonies on Menorca; 2) to estimate its breeding population size on Illa de l’Aire; and 3) to obtain preliminary information on its breeding biology on this island. In 2019–2022 considerable efforts were devoted to finding other breeding colonies on Menorca but none was found. Four breeding areas were identified on this island, which contain a minimum of 33 active nests in 2019, the year with more breeding pairs. However, most of the adequate sites for breeding on this island are totally inaccessible and so the total storm-petrel population there is probably much higher. We captured 185 birds and ringed 70. Even though gathering data for this species at this site is difficult, we advocate the establishment of an annual monitoring program in the island as a way of obtaining a good estimate of the conservation status and the population trend of the European Storm-petrel on Menorca.
