Recent Data on the Danube Delta (Romania) Avifauna from the 2014 and 2015 Summer Seasons

Abstract A number of faunistically interesting observations related to the avifauna of the Danube Delta (Romania) are presented. In the spring of 2015, a mass mortality event with a minimum of 118 dead birds occurred in a major Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus colony in the Black Sea lagoons caused by the avian flu virus, strain H5N1. A possible hybrid between Little Egret Egretta garzetta and Western Reef Heron Egretta gularis was observed. The first nesting of Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea in the Danube Delta was documented. Goldeneye Bucephala clangula and Smew Mergus albellus are re-colonising the areas they abandoned in the early 20th century. New data regarding the relocation of Pallas’s Gull Larus ichthyaetus colony in the Danube Delta as a result of hydromorphological changes in the bay, nesting and defence strategies against Caspian Gulls Larus cachinnans are described. Probable nesting of Citrine Wagtail Motacilla citreola in the Danube Delta was documented in 2014 for the first time.