This morning BirdLife Malta was called to attend at Addolorata Cemetery where they found a highly protected Black Kite (Astun Iswed in Maltese) which was shot down and landed in the area. Police have been called in and are investigating the case.
It's just four days since the spring hunting season has been closed, and following the storm of last night, hunters have been out this morning nonetheless with shots reported by members of the public in various areas.
This Black Kite, aside from being a highly protected bird of prey, has been shot within a prohibited area and during the closed season. BirdLife Malta stated it is hoping police are able to catch the suspect after providing them with the relevant information.
Black Kites are more commonly seen in spring rather than autumn, yet are not as common on migration as other birds of prey we see during spring like Marsh Harrier, Montagu's Harrier or kestrels. Their appearance is unmistakable with a forked tail and large size. As with other birds of prey, Black Kites do not like traversing large tracts of open sea especially in increment weather. This kite would have possibly arrived in Malta the day before, and would have been just leaving its roost this morning awaiting for the weather to warm up. Large birds such as kites will leave their roosts later in the morning to make most of thermals as the day warms up. This helps them gain height to then migrate.
In the meantime, just an hour after BirdLife Malta was called to recover the injured Black Kite at Addolorata, the eNGO received another call regarding a Turtle Dove (Gamiema) which was found injured just outside a school at Birgu. The Turtle Dove has been found bleeding from a wing and is being taken to the government vet.
This year’s spring hunting season, which closed last Tuesday 30th April, served as a smokescreen for hunters to illegally target the Turtle Dove in spite of the fact it was supposedly only open for Quail (Summiena). This, following a conscious decision by the Government to open a hunting season whose dates extended well into the peak migration period of the vulnerable Turtle Dove.
Proof of the massacre on Turtle Doves is the fact that seven shot Turtle Doves were recovered in all by BirdLife Malta since the start of the peak migration season of this now red-listed protected bird species. This is just the tip of the iceberg since during the past weeks and days BirdLife Malta’s Spring Watch teams in the countryside observed hundreds of Turtle Doves being shot down.
With these two most recent illegal hunting casualties received this morning, the total of known illegally shot protected birds retrieved by BirdLife Malta and police so far in 2019 has now reached 36.