The Portuguese Osprey Reintroduction Project: Achievements, Lessons and Perspectives

Abstract

Ospreys bred along most of coastal Portugal until the beginning of the 20th century. Thereafter, a continuous decline due to persistent persecution and habitat loss led the species to extinction as a breeder in 2002, long after its disappearance from the rest of continental Iberia. Reintroduction by hacking was the only remaining option to restore a breeding population. With the collaboration of Finland and Sweden as donor countries, a 5-year translocation project (2011–2015) was carried out in a vast inland reservoir. A total of 56 nestlings were translocated, of which 47 successfully dispersed. From 2016–2018, the follow-up of the project was devoted to improving nesting conditions through putting in place artificial platforms in a wide set of favourable areas (reservoirs, estuarine marshlands, large rivers), especially those regularly used by over-summering ospreys. So far, 25 platforms of different types were set up. The first two breeding pairs settled down in 2015, the last year of translocations, one in the release area and the other on the rocky coast, both with a successful outcome. During the 2018 breeding season there were already 5 territorial pairs, of which one bred successfully.

Keywords

• birds of prey
• osprey
• pandion haliaetus