Preliminary results from a Lesser 
Kestrel survey of Turkey, Spring 1993 
Stephen Parr & Murat Yarar 
Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni 
populations have suffered severe declines 
throughout much of their southern European and 
Middle Eastern range, principally as a result of 
agricultural intensification. Biber (1990) showed that the 
only potentially large population outside Spain was in Turkey. This 
project's principal objective was to undertake a provisional estimate of 
the Turkish Lesser Kestrel population. As this would involve visiting 
large numbers of settlements to count breeding colonies a subsiduary 
objective was to count the number of occupied and unoccupied White 
Stork Ciconia ciconia nests. 
Previous work by DHKD strongly suggested that the best area for 
breeding Lesser Kestrels is the converted steppes of the Central Plateau. 
We checked a random sample of 10-km squares throughout this region. 
A map of Turkey (produced in 1956: GSGS Edition 1 Map) which had a 
10-km grid was used for square selection. Figure 1 shows the distribution 
of 100-km squares within which five 10-km squares were randomly 
selected, together with the principal natural habitats (Noirfalise 1987). 
Where the grid was adjusted to fit the lines of longitude, we selected a 
100-km square that included some of the 'half squares'. 
Two teams of two British birdwatchers worked with ten Turkish 
ornithologists (mostly students organised through DHKD), spending a 
month surveying in teams of three. Within each 10-km square, teams 
spent one day checking every potential breeding site (farm, hamlet, 
village, town or cliff) and mapping the area. 
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