Impact of noise barriers on birds. A case study along a Tuscany highway
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Avocetta 38: 37-39 (2014)
Short communications - Brevi note
Impact of noise barriers on birds. A case study along
a Tuscany highway
Tommaso Campedelli*, Guglielmo Londi, Simonetta Cutini, Claudia Donati,
Guido Tellini Florenzano
Dream Italia - Via Garibaldi 3, 52015 Pratovecchio (AR).
*Corresponding author: emberiza1978@gmail.com
Abstract – One of the most harmful impact that the presence of an sessing the impact of noise reduction barriers on the stretch
infrastructure can cause on birds is the death by direct collisions, of the A1 highway between the Firenze Scandicci and Fire-
both against the vehicles passing and the related structures, like
noise barriers. Despite the great concern raised in the last years nze Nord exits. The study examined only some of the bar-
about the entity of this issue, little has been made to avoid or miti- riers present in this section of highway: four on the south-
gate this problem. In this short-note we report a case study on the
bound carriageway (B1, B2, B3 and B4), with lengths of
impact of these structures on birds along a highway in Tuscany.
Our findings seem to stress the presence of a significance effect 86, 88, 154 and 704 m respectively, and two on the north-
in terms of numbers of both collisions and of species involved. bound carriageway (B5 and B6), both of 76 m; the barrier
B4 was monitored only partially, over a length of 330 m,
due to the presence of an active worksite. Impact was as-
sessed by identifying, on both sides of the barriers, the car-
Among the many detrimental impacts that an infrastruc- casses of birds who died as a result of collision. The bar-
ture may have on birds, one of the most important is, with- riers were all made of plexiglass, a completely transparent
out doubts, the deaths caused by collisions with transpar- material.
ent soundproof panels (Coffin 2007). These are structures The surveys were carried out by a single researcher, on
that aim to limit noise pollution in urban sections or in the a weekly basis, over the period between June 18 and Sep-
vicinity of residential areas, consisting, in many cases, of tember 13, 2010, during the off-peak morning hours, when
transparent panels. At an international level the extent of traffic is less intense. For each carcass found, the follow-
the problem is widely recognized (Klem 2006, 2009, See- ing data were recorded: the barrier, the side of the barrier
wagen 2008) and the numerous studies carried out show where the carcass was discovered (i.e. external or internal),
that direct collisions against transparent manmade struc- and the species of bird.
tures, including building windows, is by far the leading Similar research experiences involving identification
cause of direct mortality in birds, with a far greater im- of carcasses, conducted mainly in the field of wind farm
pact than that of many other phenomena often perceived impact, have shown that simply considering the numbers
(and not only by the general public) as much more serious obtained in the field, i.e. the number of carcasses actual-
(Sibley 2003). In Italy, however, few studies have been ly retrieved, results in an underestimate, sometimes im-
carried out (Dinetti et al. 2008) and even fewer interven- portant, of the real impact of an infrastructure (Morrison
tions to mitigate such effects, despite the fact that in recent 2002, Duffy & Steward 2008). Several factors can con-
years new types of dissuaders have been successfully test- siderably reduce the effectiveness of the surveys; the most
ed, which are much more efficient - and aesthetically ac- important one is probably the structure and the height of
ceptable - than the often used decals or stickers depicting the vegetation in the area, which can significantly limit
birds of prey or other birds (Rössler et al. 2009, Schmid the ability to identify and retrieve the carcasses. Another
et al. 2013). source of bias might be the removal of carcasses by preda-
In this short paper we present the results of one study, tors (scavengers). To evaluate the effect of these factors,
carried out on behalf of SPEA Ingegneria Europea, the en- on four separate occasions, a fellow researcher placed a
gineering division of Autostrade per l’Italia, aimed at as- variable number of carcasses (from here called controls) in
© 2014 CISO – Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologici 37Short communications - Brevi note
the area of the barriers. These controls were recognizable gation, using Spearman’s rank correlation (Siegel & Cas-
by the colour-marking of some parts (claws and/or beak); tellan 1992) and then tested possible effects using General-
the researcher assigned to the task of searching carcasses ized Linear Models (GLM; Rushton et al. 2004).
was informed of the control presence, but was unaware of We carried a total of 14 surveys, during which 50 car-
their number and, above all, of the dates and places of de- casses belonging to 19 species were found (Table 1). In
ployment. In such a way it was possible to evaluate, for five cases it was not possible to identify the species. The
each barrier, the efficiency of the research methodology species found included a red-backed shrike and four king-
(the percentage of tests retrieved against the total placed) fishers, both considered species of conservation impor-
and then define a corrective measure that when applied to tance, both under the 79/409/EEC Birds Directive, and
the number of birds found really died as a result of colli- subsequent updates, and the Tuscan Regional Authority
sion made it possible to calculate a more reliable estimate law 56/2000. Table 2 shows the data for individual bar-
of the impact. The corrective measure was simply a pro- riers: the number of carcasses found, the efficiency of the
portion, the percentage of efficiency equal to the number research and the estimate of impact.
of carcasses recovered. The trial was carried out for all the Using the estimate of the research efficiency as a cor-
barriers, excluding B3, in which case the correction ap- rective measure to apply to the number of carcasses actu-
plied was the average of those calculated for the other five ally recovered, a total of 0.23 collisions per day was found
barriers. for every 100 m of barrier, i.e. it is estimated that every
Finally, to assess the possible effect of structures other day, along the 1184 m of barriers examined, 2.7 birds died.
than the barriers on mortality, we examined any signifi- These data were consistent, although slightly higher, with
cant relationships between the rate of collision and the dif- the results of the only two other cases of similar studies
ferent types of land use. For a 300-m radius area around published in Italy (Capitani et al. 2007, Cairo 2008). In
each barrier, we drew up a map of the land use, consider- particular, along a stretch of the Bergamo ring road, Cairo
ing the main eco-system types in the area: open water, fal- (2008) estimated a mortality of 0.95 individuals per day
low land, cultivated land, residential areas, industrial areas for 700 metres of barrier, i.e. 0.14 individuals per day per
and roads. To assess the possible effect of land use on the 100 m. Regarding the effect of the different types of land
rate of mortality we first carried out a preliminary investi- use in the area of each barrier, none of the analyses carried
Table 1. Number of carcasses per species found during the study surveys.
Common name Scientific name Nummber of carcasses
Feral pigeon Columba livia forma domestica domestica 9
Wood pigeon Columba palumbus 5
Blackbird Turdus merula 5
Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 4
Serin Serinus serinus 3
Greenfinch Carduelis chloris 3
Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 2
Swift Apus apus 2
Barn swallow Hirundo rustica 2
Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 1
Collared dove Streptopelia decaocto 1
House martin Delichon urbicum 1
White wagtail Motacilla alba 1
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla 1
Red-backed shrike Lanius collurio 1
Magpie Pica pica 1
Starling Sturnus vulgaris 1
Italian sparrow Passer italiae 1
Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis 1
undetermined 5
38Short communications - Brevi note
Table 2. Number of surveys carried out, carcasses and controls found at the sites of the different sections of barriers; it is reported also
the efficiency of the search, expressed as a percentage of controls recovered, and the estimate of impact, overall and for each barrier, with
a confidence interval of 5%. Efficiency tests were not made at barrier n. 3 (B3).
Barrier Survey Carcasses Controls Mortality rate (collisions/day/100 meters)
Positioned Recovered Efficiency Observed Estimated
B1 (86 m) 11 7 11 5 44.4% 0.106 0.238
B2 (88 m) 13 8 20 9 44.5% 0.100 0.225
B3 (154 m) 14 9 no test 40.6%** 0.060 0.147 0.147
B4 (303 m) 13 14 25 6 24.6% 0.099 0.404
B5 (76 m) 14 10 18 9 54.2% 0.134 0.248
B6 (76 m) 11 2 17 6 35.4% 0.034 0.096
Total 50 91 35 40.6% 0.089 ± 0.029 0.226 ± 0.096
out revealed any significant effect due to the nature of the Coffin W.A., 2007. From roadkill to road ecology: A review of
surrounding environment. It is possible that the number of the ecological effects of roads. J Trans. Geog. 15: 396-406.
Dinetti M. (ed.), 2008. Infrastrutture di trasporto e biodiversità:
carcasses recovered is too small to reveal significant dif- lo stato dell’arte in Italia. Il problema della frammentazione
ferences, although it may also be the case that there is no degli habitat causata da autostrade, strade, ferrovie e canali
navigabili. IENE Infra-Eco-Network-Europe, Sezione Italia.
significant effect of land use typologies because of the pe-
Duffy K. & Steward M., 2008. Turbine search methods and car-
riod in which the surveys were carried out. The research cass removal trials at the Braes of Doune windfarm. Natu-
period in fact fell, for most species, in the post-breeding ral Research Information Note 4. Natural Research Ltd, Ban-
chory, UK.
phase, when adults were no longer confined to the nesting Klem D. Jr., 2006. Glass: a deadly conservation issue for birds.
territory and fledglings had already dispersed. The results Bird Observer 34: 73-81.
showed a significant impact on birds, especially if consid- Klem D. Jr., 2009. Avian mortality at windows: the second largest
human source of bird mortality on earth. Proceedings of the
ered in the light of the widespread use of transparent noise Fourth International Partners in Flight Conference: Tundra to
reduction structures. Our findings, even though related to Tropics, 244-251.
a limited area and timeframe, nevertheless confirmed these Morrison M., 2002. Searcher bias and scavenging rates in bird/
wind energy studies. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
structures as a factor significantly affecting bird mortal- Golden, Colorado, USA.
ity (Klem 2009). This study also confirmed how this im- Rössler M., Laube W. & Weihs P., 2009. Avoiding bird collisions
pact can also relate to species of conservation importance with glass surfaces. Experimental investigations of the effica-
cy of markings on glass panes under natural light conditions
(Zbyryt et al. 2012), in the particular cases of the red- in Flight Tunnel II (Final report, March 2007). BOKU-Met
backed shrike and kingfisher. These findings emphasize Report 10. Available at: http://www.boku.ac.at/met/report/
the need, and the urgency, to undertake large-scale miti- BOKU-Met_Report_10_online.pdf
Rushton S.P., Ormerod S.J. & Kerby G., 2004. New paradigms for
gation and prevention interventions, considering the meth- modelling species distributions? J. App. Ecol. 41: 193-200.
ods and techniques that are now available, interventions Schmid H., Doppler W., Heynen D. & Rössler M., 2013. Costrui
that should be required directly in the designs of projects re con vetro e luce rispettando gli uccelli. Seconda edizio-
ne rivista e ampliata. Stazione Ornitologica Svizzera, Sem-
for the construction of any structures involving the use of pach, CH.
transparent panels. Seewagen C.L., 2008. Bird collisions with windows: An annotat-
ed bibliography. New York City Audubon and the Wildlife
Conservation Society, New York, USA.
Sibley D., 2003. Causes of Bird Mortality. http://www.sibley-
REFERENCES guides.com/conservation/causes-of-bird-mortality
Zbyryt A., Suchowoleca A. & Siuchno R., 2012. Species com-
Cairo E., 2008. Mortalità di avifauna per collisione contro barriere position of birds colliding with noise barriers in Białystok
in PMMA: indagine prima e dopo l’applicazione di sagome di (North-Eastern Poland). Intern. Study on Sparrows 36: 88-94.
rapaci. Picus 34: 43-48.
Capitani F., Dinetti M., Fangarezzi C., Piani C. & Selmi E., 2007.
Barriere fonoassorbenti trasparenti: impatto sull’avifauna nel-
la periferia della città di Modena. Riv. Ital. Orn. 76: 115-124. Associate editor: Daniela Campobello
39Avocetta 38: 40-41 (2014)
New breeding records of Middle Spotted Woodpecker
Dendrocopos medius in Abruzzo, Italy
Paul Harris, Stephen Harris
Via Vitaliano Brancati 65, 00144 Roma, Italy (Paul Harris: wbw@libero.it)
Abstract – In 2007 we found a pair of Middle Spotted Wood- by and breeding was certainly successful in 2011, when we
peckers Dendrocopos medius nesting in an old beech stump in the observed a newly-fledged bird being fed by an adult only a
Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise (PNALM); this was
few metres from the original stump. In 2012 and 2013 the
the third documented breeding record for the species in Abruzzo.
This nesting territory, in a mature beech forest, was also occupied woodpeckers were not seen or heard in this territory, and
during the years 2008-2011. In this report we also describe the in 2013 the dead beech stump had fallen to the ground.
discovery of a new breeding area in Abruzzo which holds at least Meanwhile, new Middle Spotted Woodpecker territo-
four more breeding pairs of this species. ries were discovered in another area about 10 kms away,
and checks carried out here during the years 2008-2013 re-
vealed the regular presence of at least four pairs of Middle
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is a resident breeding Spotted Woodpeckers, nesting in adjacent territories. The
species in Italy, mainly confined to the central-southern habitat here was more typical of the known requirements
Apennines and to the Gargano peninsula. The Italian re- for this species, as it consisted of mixed oak/beech woods
gions in which it nests regularly include Puglia, Basilicata with a few conifers, rather than pure beech woods (Pasinel-
and Molise, while it is present but localized in Calabria, li 2000). In common with the original 2007 breeding terri-
Campania, Abruzzo and Marche (Brichetti & Fracasso tory, the habitat was largely unspoilt, with the presence of
2007). Historically it was considered to be present but rare a good number of tall, old trees. This population of Middle
in Lazio, Umbria and Toscana as well, but recent observa- Spotted Woodpeckers appeared to be isolated, as research
tions from these regions are very scarce, and its possible carried out in similar habitat nearby produced no further
status as a breeding species would need to be confirmed. observations. The birds were also highly sedentary, being
In some areas, the presence of Middle Spotted Woodpeck- observed in the same areas in all seasons of the year, and
ers could well be overlooked or under-estimated, due to seemed particularly faithful to their nesting trees.
poor coverage. Indeed, despite the relatively low number of occupied
For the Abruzzo region, previous to the breeding site Middle Spotted Woodpecker nests found in Abruzzo so far
discovered in 2007, there had only been two documented (ten), the tendency to use the same trees for nesting seems
nesting records (Zunino 1983), when it had nested in the to be statistically suspect, as the ten nests were found in
same dead tree stump for two consecutive years. A newly- only five different trees. Moreover, the presence of series
fledged family had also been observed in the PNALM park of presumable old Middle Spotted Woodpecker holes in
by M. Cappelli in June 1999 (pers. comm.). Historical or- only a few other trees in the area seems to confirm this hy-
nithological literature regarding Abruzzo, and the PNALM pothesis, which is in general not typical of this woodpeck-
park in particular, considered Middle Spotted Woodpeck- er’s nesting habits in other parts of Europe (Gorman pers.
ers to be present, but extremely rare and localized (Di Car- comm., Pasinelli pers. comm.) - this could indicate that
lo 1972, Zunino 1983, Bernoni 1992, 1995). the birds have some difficulty in finding suitable trees for
The breeding site we found in 2007 was situated in a excavating their nest-holes.
mature beech forest at approximately 1700 metres above The importance of conserving the mature high-stand-
sea level (Harris et Harris 2007). The dead beech stump ing trees used by the birds for nesting and, even more im-
was 12 metres high, and the nest-hole was about 8 metres portantly, for foraging cannot be over-emphasized. Were
from the ground. The Middle Spotted Woodpeckers nested these ancient trees to be felled these apparently isolated
in this dead stump again for the following two years - suc- populations of Middle Spotted Woodpeckers in Abruzzo
cessful broods were raised both in 2008 and in 2009, and a could well be at risk of local extinction, considering the
new nest-hole was excavated each year. In 2010 and 2011 poor dispersal capability of the species as well (Gorman
the stump was not used again but the birds were heard near- 2004, Pasinelli 2003).
40 © 2014 CISO – Centro Italiano Studi OrnitologiciShort communications - Brevi note
Figure 1. Adult Middle Spotted Woodpecker at nest-hole,
Abruzzo, June 2011.
Figure 2. Adult and juv. Middle Spotted Woodpecker at
nest, Abruzzo, June 2011.
REFERENCES Harris P. & Harris S., 2007. Caso di nidificazione di picchio ros-
so mezzano Dendrocopos medius in Abruzzo. Alula 14: 136-
Bernoni M., 1992. Dati sulla presenza dei Piciformi nelle faggete 138.
del Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Alula 1: 48-51. Pasinelli G., 2000. Oaks (Quercus sp.) and only oaks? Relations
Bernoni M., 1995. Check-List degli Uccelli del Parco Nazionale between habitat structure and home range size of the middle
d’Abruzzo. Progetto Biodiversità, Ente Autonomo Parco Na- spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos medius). Biol. Conserv.,
zionale d’Abruzzo, 3. 93: 227-235.
Brichetti P. & Fracasso G., 2007. Ornitologia italiana. Vol. 4, Pasinelli G., 2003. Dendrocopos medius Middle Spotted Wood-
Apodidae - Prunellidae. A. Perdisa ed., Bologna. pecker. BWP Update, 5: 49-99.
Di Carlo E.A., 1972. Gli Uccelli del Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo. Zunino F., 1983. Note ornitologiche dal Parco Nazionale d’A-
Riv. ital. Orn., 42: 1-160. bruzzo, con particolare riferimento al Dryobates medius e al
Gorman G., 2004. Woodpeckers of Europe. Bruce Coleman. D. leucotos lilfordi. Riv. ital. Orn., 53: 59-71.
41Avocetta 38: 42-43 (2014)
Columns - Rubriche
Book Reviews - Recensioni
Publishers and Authors are invited to submit a copy of their books for a review in the journal. Books are to be sent to the CISO secretary
(Tommaso La Mantia - Dipartimento SAF (Scienze agrarie e forestali), Università di Palermo - Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 4, Ingr. H - 90128
Palermo (Italy) – Editori e Autori sono invitati a sottoporre una copia dei loro volumi per una recensione. I volumi devono essere spediti
alla segreteria CISO (Tommaso La Mantia - Dipartimento SAF (Scienze agrarie e forestali), Università di Palermo - Viale delle Scienze,
Ed. 4, Ingr. H - 90128 Palermo (Italy).
Leisler B. & Schulze-Hagen K., 2011. The Reed Warblers vergenze evolutive, ricerca e ricercatori; chiude il volume
- diversity in a uniform bird family. KNNV Publishing, una bibliografia esaustiva. Quindi un approccio comparati-
Zeist (Olanda), in collaborazione con Max Planck Institu- vo che, utilizzando dati noti ed inediti, tocca tutti gli aspetti
te for Ornithology. 328 pp., hardback, riccamente illustrato biologici, trasportandoci fuori dai nostri confini, attraverso
da spettacolari fotografie e numerosi disegni. l’Africa e l’Asia, fino al Madagascar con le specie del ge-
Per ordinarlo: nere Nesillas e alle isole polinesiane, con i relativi proces-
www.knnvpublishing.nl oppure info@knnvpublishing.nl si di colonizzazione ed estinzione delle specie del genere
Acrocephalus.
Ecco un libro intrigante che non si rivolge solo ricercatori Questa approfondita trattazione, oltre che mostrarci i
e ornitologi, ma anche a birdwatcher e naturalisti appassio- risultati degli studi scientifici nelle varie parti del globo,
nati. Una panoramica approfondita ma comprensibile su rappresenta un modello di riferimento per molti filoni di
un gruppo di 53 specie viventi di passeriformi canori, am- ricerca ed evidenzia anche le attuali lacune di conoscenza,
piamente diffusi in tutti i continenti, tranne che nel Nuo- fonte di spunti per future ricerche di campagna e di labora-
vo Mondo, con baricentro distributivo in Asia centro-oc- torio, riguardanti anche altri gruppi sistematici.
cidentale. La nuova famiglia degli Acrocefalidi, creata in Un libro veramente ben fatto, dalle cui pagine, scrit-
base ai più recenti studi a livello molecolare, comprende te con un linguaggio chiaro e immediato, si capisce subito
ora le specie dei generi Nesillas, Calamonastides, Phraga- che è stato scritto da ornitologi che hanno compiuto per-
maticola, Iduna, Hippolais e Acrocephalus. Per noi è sin- sonalmente ricerche approfondite sulle “silvie di canna”,
golare vedere affiancati “canapini” e “silvie di canna”, ma innamorandosi nel contempo dei loro soggetti di studio.
dovremo abituarci a molte altre novità, visto che i moderni Non per niente Bernd e Karl hanno calpestato per quasi
studi tassonomici sembrano abbiano dimenticato i classici mezzo secolo zone umide e boscaglie, utilizzato labora-
approcci morfologici ed eco-etologici, per affidarsi alla ge- tori di ricerca e aperto cassetti di pelli di musei. Le ricer-
netica basata sulle nuove tecniche molecolari. che su questo interessante gruppo di specie rientrano in un
Questo non ci facilita però i problemi di identificazio- progetto del Max Planck Institute for Ornithology di Ra-
ne di alcune specie, quali la Cannaiola comune e la Canna- dofzell. Consiglio l’acquisto del libro agli ornitologi ed ai
iola verdognola, agevolmente distinguibili sul campo per birdwatcher che vogliano ampliare e approfondire le pro-
le vocalizzazioni, ma difficilissime da identificare in mano prie conoscenze.
a causa delle strette affinità morfologiche conseguenti dal-
la discendenza da un comune progenitore. Pierandrea Brichetti (pbrichetti@alice.it)
Il volume, riccamente illustrato con immagini di sog-
getti fotografati in natura ed in mano, dai disegni di Da-
vid Quinn, da mappe e numerosi diagrammi, si sviluppa in F. Mezzavilla, F. Scarton (eds.), 2013. Atti Secondo Con-
15 capitoli, i cui argomenti principali riguardano: introdu- vegno Italiano Rapaci Diurni e Notturni. Associazione
zione alle specie, sistematica, habitat, alimentazione, eco- Faunisti Veneti, Quaderni Faunistici 3: 312 pp.
morfologia, territorialità, vocalizzazioni, nidificazione, pa-
rassitismo, sistema riproduttivo, migrazione, biogeografia Con una bella foto di aquila reale ben composta in coperti-
insulare, dinamica di popolazione e conservazione, con- na escono nella collana dei Quaderni Faunistici dell’AsFa-
42Columns - Rubriche
Ve gli Atti del secondo Convegno sui rapaci diurni e not- zionale dei dati del progetto MITO2000). Macroscopica-
turni (Treviso, ottobre 2012). Seguito naturale del primo mente minoritarie, purtroppo, le indagini sulla componente
Convegno del 2002, allora pubblicato in Avocetta, que- notturna, soprattutto quelle di medio-lungo periodo. Fra i
sto nuovo incontro riprende, talvolta ampliando, alcuni dei lavori da evidenziare, interessante il protocollo scientifico
temi già affrontati allora allocandoli in quattro sessioni: proposto dall’Osservatorio Nazionale su eolico e fauna per
Ecologia e conservazione, Migrazioni, Monitoraggi a me- uniformare la raccolta e l’analisi dei dati relativi ai rischi di
dio-lungo termine e Rapaci del Triveneto. I 46 lavori pub- impatto degli impianti eolici su uccelli e chirotteri. I con-
blicati (quasi l’80% di quelli complessivamente presenta- tributi relativi ai progetti di (re)introduzione sono diminu-
ti) coprono, per ammissione dei redattori, buona parte di iti rispetto al panorama offerto nel 2002, e si è ristretto il
quanto si sta facendo in Italia su questo gruppo di specie. numero di specie target. Piace in questo sperare che la ten-
Apprezzabile innanzitutto (l’esistenza e) la prosecuzione denza alla “poca pianificazione, molti progetti” negativa-
di indagini di lungo periodo su aree anche vaste, soprat- mente evidenziata nel corso del primo Convegno si sia in
tutto di monitoraggio di particolari flussi migratori (es. fal- gran parte invertita e che si stia andando verso una piani-
co pecchiaiolo, biancone) o di consistenza e/o biologia ri- ficazione più matura degli interventi, mirata alle specie di
produttiva (es. aquila reale nell’Appennino settentrionale, reale interesse conservazionistico nazionale.
falco cuculo in pianura padana, civetta capogrosso nelle
Prealpi venete..., oltre ad un quadro di insieme a scala na- Marco Zenatello (marco.zenatello@isprambiente.it)
43Calidris alpina (Dresser 1871-1881)
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