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The data obtaining of different aspects of the ecology of the Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) in the migratory pass from Urdaibai towards the wintering areas of peninsular southwest and North Morocco has come to the end successfully.

The Bluethroat is a little migratory bird that is closely related to wetlands. Among the 5 subspecies breeding  in Europe, one exclusively breeds in coastal marshes of the French Atlantic front. Some authors have highlighted theinterest in the conservation of this subspecies that could be in a severe danger during the next decades if the worst  scenarios of the global  climatic changes become true.

As a migratory species, its conservation does not only depend on the good condition of its breeding areas, but also of all those areas that it uses during the migration and wintering period, that are several hundred , or in some cases, thousands of  kilometers away, from those breeding places.
 

In this context, during the last period of postnuptial migratory pass (i.e., from breeding to wintering areas), a number of entities, including the Urdaibai Bird Center, carried out a sampling of the Bluethroats of the different marshes the Bay of Biscay by scientific ringing.

Gathering of the biometric data to a Bluethroat during the postnuptial season.

The project's objective was to identify the  moulting areas and the main stopover places during migration. In that way, it is expected to identify the key areas for the species out of breeding period. From now on, a detailed analysis of the data is being carried out. The conclusions of this study are expected to be already published for the first months of 2013.

Specimen of Bluethroat beginning the complete moult of the flight feathers