Indagini preliminari sulla biologia riproduttiva e sugli aspetti ecologici dell’Occhione (Burhinus oedicnemus) nella penisola di Thapsos (Siracusa)

The Eurasian Stone curlew Burhinus oedicnemus (Linnaeus, 1758) is currently included into the European listof species of conservation concern given the large decline of its breeding populations, which occurred during thesecond half of the twentieth century. A similar trend, mostly due to the fragmentation and the contraction of thepotential nesting habitat, has been recorded also throughout the Italian territory and this led the species to be includedinto the Italian “Red List” of breeding birds. Even though its conservation status is clearly unfavourable, thedata regarding the biology of Stone Curlew are rather incomplete, probably because of its elusive and mostly nocturnalhabits. Such information, however, is of paramount importance to appropriately manage the populations ofthis species. In order to contribute to fill at least partially this gap in knowledge, we started an investigation regardingthe breeding biology of the Stone Curlew in the Peninsula ofThapsos (Siracusa, Sicily), which hosts a consistentand probably resident population of this species. Starting from 2007 we intensively monitored nesting activity,gathering data on the reproductive phenology, the size of eggs and hatching success. In parallel, in an attempttomake a contribution to understand the biogeographical structure ofMediterranean populations, we began amolecularanalysis of blood samples taken from birds belonging to different Italian and European populations.The resultscollected so far should be considered preliminary.