THE CAMARGUE BIRD REPORT 1988-1989

This ornithological report for the Camargue and neighbouring areas covers the years 1988-1989. It is not just a list of rare species but summarises the results of long-term monitoring of many of the aquatic bird communities which make up the extreme richness of the area throughout the year. A short climatological report and graphs showing annual precipitation and the fluctuations of the level and salinity of the main water body of the Rhone delta, the Vaccares, help to explain some of the changes which the populations of some species have undergone. The two winters in question were unusually mild and 1989 was characterised by the lowest rainfall on record for the area. Amongst the most striking changes in the numbers of birds using the delta in recent years have been the increase of the wintering Greylag goose population and the increase of both Slender-billed and Mediterranean Gulls whilst the Penduline tit, abundant on migration and in winter, still has not returned to breed in the Camargue where it was so conspicuous twenty years ago.