International Single Species Action Planfor the Conservation of theBlack-winged Pratincole

The Black-winged Pratincole breeds mainly in the steppe and desert belt of Eurasia from Romaniaand Ukraine in the west to the Russian part of the Altai and to Kazakhstan in the east. It winters inAfrica south of the Sahara desert. Migration through the Middle East countries such as Turkey,Iran, Iraq, etc. is probably transit/flyover, and takes place at high altitudes; as a result the BlackwingedPratincole is seldom recorded in this region. Population decline of the Black-wingedPratincole started in the end of 19th century, and became more evident in the second half of the20th century. In recent years, starting from the 1980s-1990s, a marked population decline againtook place: in 10 years numbers decreased by half or two thirds. Currently the total population ofthe Black-winged Pratincole is unlikely to exceed 10,000-15,000 pairs. The Black-wingedPratincole is classified as ‘Data Deficient’ (BirdLife International 2004) at global level, and’Endangered, SPEC 1′ at European level (BirdLife International 2004). It is however not includedat all either in the Red Data Book of Asia or in the list of Globally Threatened Species, probablybecause of far too optimistic interpretation of species numbers The species is included in AppendixII of the Bonn Convention and in Appendix II of the Bern Convention. The Black-wingedPratincole is listed in Table 1, Column A in categories 3b and 3c of the African-Eurasian WaterbirdAgreement (aeWA).

Victor P. Belik & Elena A. Lebedeva, aeWA Technical Series No. 4