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Results of a coordinated count of Eurasian Golden Plovers Pluvialis apricaria in Northern Europe, October 2003

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Pages
60 – 64

Published
1 December 07

Authors
Lars Maltha Rasmussen, Simon Gillings

Correspondence
Lars Maltha Rasmussen
larsmaltha@mail.dk
Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, PO Box 570, DK-3900 Nuuk, Greenland.

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In October 2003, a coordinated count of Eurasian Golden Plovers took place in Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and Ireland. A little over 1 million birds were  counted which for pragmatic reasons we assign to two ‘groups’ of populations: the Continental and Atlantic groups. Of these, 917,000 were from the Continental group of breeding populations and represent a good estimate of population size and baseline for future counts. The remaining 167,000 counted in Britain and Ireland represent only a fraction of the likely number in the Atlantic group. Country-level totals suggest a continuing tendency for more northerly staging. Reasons for this change are discussed along with the need for future surveys in 2008 and beyond.