Milvus migrans

6.3.6 Black Kite ( Milvus migrans View in CoL )

Black kite is a qualifying interest feature of Allah Bair – Capidava SPA, Cheile Dobrogei SPA, Stepa Saraiu-Horea SPA, and Stepa Casimcea SPA. The populations for each are shown in Table 6.12 View Table 6.15 below.

No black kite nests were recorded during breeding surveys undertaken in 2013, although a single bird was recorded poisoned within the Allah Bair-Capidava SPA. During the VP surveys black kites were only recorded on two occasions, with individual birds recorded on each occasion.

The CRM calculated at the most conservative avoidance rate of 95% that one black kite would be killed every 40.2 years and at a more realistic avoidance rate of 99% that one black kite would be killed every 201.2 years (see Annex C).

Average adult survival has not been estimated for black kite but is likely to be similar to that of the closely related red kite which has been estimated at 0.61 (12). The Romanian breeding population is relatively small and has been estimated at 120-160 pairs, with a declining population trend (13).

Although the SPA breeding populations of black kite are small, given the very low collision mortality calculated by the CRM, it is predicted that there will not be any effects on the SPA breeding populations of black kite as a result of collision mortality. As with long-legged buzzards It is likely that adult birds will produce more than enough young to occupy suitable breeding territories within the SPA with the additional very low level of predicted mortality.

The construction of the Crucea North Wind Farm will result in the loss of some areas of foraging habitat for breeding and potentially for migrating black kite. However given the very low number of flights recorded during the VP surveys, significant effects from foraging habitat or disturbance during construction and operation are not predicted.

There is the potential for barrier effects on migrating black kite, however the Crucea North Wind Farm site has not been reported to support any important migratory routes in the context of the wider area and is not know to generate important thermals for migratory birds (Wildlife Management 2012). This conclusion is supported by the results of the 2013 VP surveys. As a result no barrier effects are predicted. Overall no effects to the integrity of any of the SPAs are predicted as a result of effects on the qualifying interest features black kite populations.

It should be noted that birds of prey have no avoidance of poisoned bait and that this is likely to have a much greater impact on breeding bird populations than mortality related to wind farms.