Important wintering habitats and areas for Iberian and European Rollers Coracias garrulus in southern Africa

Resumen del póster presentado a la 10th Conference of the European Ornithologist's Union, celebrada en Badajoz (España) del 24 al 28 de agosto de 2015.European Rollers Coracias garrulus are near-threatened long-distance migrants experiencing a global decline, which has been attributed to the degradation of open agricultural habitats in which rollers breed. However, conservation threats in non-breeding areas remain largely unstudied. Here we used ecological niche models to characterise suitable wintering areas for European rollers in Southern Africa and identify potential threats there. Location data from open-access databases and bird atlases allowed a characterization of wintering areas for the overall breeding population, while data from satellite-tracked birds breeding in Spain allowed the characterization of wintering areas of the westernmost Iberian population. Spanish Rollers occupied a relatively narrow wintering area in the north western part of the global wintering range. The most important habitat variables determining wintering areas were distance to roads and tree cover for Iberian birds, and tree and herbaceous cover for the overall population. Wintering habitats used by Iberian rollers differed from those characterizing the overall wintering range, suggesting that birds from different breeding populations may winter in separate areas. Suitable areas for Iberian rollers were reasonably included within current protected areas in southern Africa, more than for the global population. However, suitable wintering areas overlapped with degraded areas more than expected by chance.Peer Reviewe