The Balearic Shearwater declared Bird of the Year 2001

The Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/BirdLife) has decided to declare the Balearic Shearwater the Bird of the Year 2001, with a view to promoting this species, in danger of extinction, and to encourage the Balearic Government to invest in its protection.

The Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), called Virot in the Pitiüses islands, is an endemic marine bird in the Balearics, and that arrives at the breeding areas as from September-October. Some couples remain in the western Mediterranean all year, but the immense majority abandon it after breeding, reaching the area of the Gulf of Biscay-Brittany, on the French Atlantic coast, staying there all summer. A small number can be seen in the Straits of Gibraltar between May and June.

The estimates made in 1999 give a figure of the reproduction colony of the Balearic Shearwater as between 2,200 and 4,200 couples. The most numerous colonies are on Formentera.

More information:
- La Pardela Balear (SEO/BirdLife)
- Proyecto Virot

Related news:
Recovery plan of the Balearic Shearwater (7/3/2000)

Datum: 18/02/2001

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