Joining the CITES scheme has led to
improvements of the export control and management activities by the Mongolian
Government with respect to endangered species. The results of the work done
under the CITES regulations and international co-operation between the Mongolian
Government and overseas conservation organizations can be demonstrated on the
example of the Mongolian Saker Falcon Conservation Project.
This three year project started in 1998 when an agreement was signed between
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the Ministry of Nature and
Environment of Mongolia and the National Avian Research Centre of the
Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA), UAE. Two field
teams established five control areas across Mongolia from May till the end of
September each year in 1998 and 1999. In these control areas, all nest locations
of territorial pairs were mapped.
The project targeted to make a scientific survey of the Saker Falcon (Falco
cherrug) population in the entire Mongolian territory, to assess the
breeding density and performance of the falcons in the wild and to come up with
a figure of safe quota for removing wild falcons from the wild on the basis of
the sustainable use principle. The project is administrated by the EPA and
employs the leading Mongolian ornithologists, whereas the funds and expertise
comes from the National Avian Research Centre who send specialists to
participate in the field work. Besides the monitoring work which has an
immediate practical meaning, the field teams focus on studies of the biology of
the falcon in order to find out the limiting factors affecting the wild
populations. The researches study the diet of the falcons, monitor the food base
and look at the territory use by the falcons. The latter task has been done
using the methods of radiotelemetry.
The control areas are large enough to represent a significant proportion of
the breeding population, and are located in places accessible in the future, to
ensure repeatability of surveys. GPS technology was used to achieve the highest
possible accuracy. The area of the control plots totals 16,948 km2.
The breeding habitat of sakers in Mongolia includes mountain, open steppe,
semi-desert and forest-steppe habitats. A remarkable distinction of breeding
habitat of Mongolian sakers is that the number of nests found on artificial nest
substrates (electric poles, bridges, buildings) outnumber those nests located on
natural substrates (cliffs and rock ledges). Amongst artificial nests the
falcons prefer poles of electric lines of various kinds (Figures 1 and 2).
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Figure 1 |
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Figure 2 |
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