Citril finch species protection program in the Black Forest

What is this project about?

The citril finch Carduelis citrinella s a bird species endemic to Europe. Its occurrence in southwestern and central Europe is restricted to a few montane to subalpine high-altitude habitats.

There is a continuing population decline in all areas of occurrence, and in some areas the species is already extinct. Populations have also declined sharply in the Black Forest since the 1980s.

For this reason, a program to save the citril finch in the Black Forest was launched in spring 2022. The aim is to record the remaining population as accurately as possible and document its breeding success.

In addition to food shortages, infestation with mites (Cnemidocoptes sp.) was identified as the reason for the sharp decline in population.

What does OekoFor do?

We provide our ecoPi recorders for acoustic monitoring since 2022.

The data from the recorders should help to better understand the habitat use and document the use of feeding areas. In addition, the presence of individuals in winter in areas that are difficult to access and their return from wintering areas can be recorded. The live transmission and viewing of recorded acoustic data in the ecoPi-dashboard enables prompt action and observers can collect further data at the recording location.

In addition, the recorders can also be used to permanently acoustically record the peripheral areas of the core population or former breeding areas and thus check for the presence of the species.

Find out more about the ecoPi-System and the ecoPi-Dashboard ↗

Further links

• Publication on this topic: In-situ and ex-situ measures to save the Citril Finch Carduelis citrinella, a European endemic mountain bird on the edge ↗

• Publication about Cnemidocoptic mange in Citril Finches ↗

Partner

The species protection program for the citril finch is financed by the Freiburg Regional Council. The project is managed and coordinated by ABL Freiburg - Büro für Landschaftsökologie.