“The red kite thrives in the Gers”: passionate ornithologists record birds of prey in the department

With its silver cap, green eye and triangular “cinnamon” tail always moving, its flight is elegant. The red kite has made its return to the department in recent weeks for the winter. By looking up to the sky, it is therefore possible to observe it almost everywhere in the territory.

This weekend, it was in Antras that three ornithology enthusiasts met to count the birds present. In total, 55 raptors could be counted, more than the number of villagers (41 inhabitants in 2022).

Like every year, the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) lists them. Last year, there were around 2,000 in the department. This year, their number could be even higher. In France, more than 5,000 red kites hibernate together in around a hundred dormitories. Traditionally, the red kite makes the migratory “diagonal” at the beginning of winter, between Eastern Europe and Spain. But with global warming, it is stopping more and more in the Hautes-Pyrénées, Ariège and therefore the Gers.

A carnivorous and scavenging raptor

“The red kite thrives in the Gers, because it arrives at the end of autumn, often mid-November, when the land begins to be liberated and releases moles and voles,” explains Pierre Foret, ornithologist and member of the LPO. “It suits him perfectly, because this raptor is carnivorous and is also a scavenger.” The informed amateur can also often observe it in the Pavie recycling center, for example.

The red kite, which is still among the vulnerable species in France, is rather solitary: it hunts alone but finds its companions at dusk, before settling on the canopy of an oak or black poplar to spend the night. . Dormitories where sometimes the colony can reach more than a hundred raptors on a single tree, very often near isolated hamlets or farms. It is therefore at this time of the day that it is possible to count them. The Gers census figures should be known next week.