The first chicks of Lesser Grey Srike arrive to the aclimatation facilities of Torre-ribera

This morning, a total of nine chicks born in captivity in the Wildlife Center of Vallcalent, have been moved to Torre-ribera agricultural estate.

They are about 32 days old and they just begin to hunt by themselves. After seven days remaining at the aclimatation facilities, they will be released into the wild, with the aim to reinforce the critical wild population of the species in the Iberian Peninsula.

All chicks are ringed with color rings in order to identify them once in the field and to supervise their adaptation to the environment.

During the next month, other groups of chicks will go under the same process. Finally, in late August, they will leave Lleida to cross the Western Mediterranean Sea, the Sahara Desert and Eastern Africa to arrive, in early november to their winter quarters, in Southern Africa.

 

 

For further information on the project please check the section Conservation in situ of the Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor) in Spain on this website.

The project for the conservation of the Lesser Grey Shrike is an initiative promoted by the Departament of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Food and Natural Environment of the Autonomic Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). Both the Wildlife Centre of Vallcalent (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the Zoo of Barcelona carry out the ex situ conservation programme, that is, outside the natural habitat. Trenca Association is responsible for doing habitat improvement, wild population tracking, reintroduction of individuals as well as giving support to captive breeding work. The project is further supported by public and private entities (Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat, Fundación Bodiversidad y Red Eléctrica de España).