The daily activity of breech martes (Martes foina Erxleben, 1777) in different parts of the «Kachaghakaberd» national park

The work presents the peculiarities of the activity of the beech martens of "Kachaghakaberd" National Park in the territories of Martakert, Askeran, Shahumyan and Kashatagh regions of Artsakh in 2002-2020. The observations carried out by us showed that there are no marked deviations within the area. However, deviations are recorded at different times of the day and in different seasons of the year. Studies show that the breech martens are mostly active during dusk and night; however they may also be active during the mornings and throughout the day. Higher activity is observed during daylight hours in spring, which is due to the spring mating of animals and in winter, which, in our opinion, is due to the compensation of low activity because of the night frosts. Changes in the nature of the activity of these beasts are conditioned by large predators, climatic and anthropogenic factors. As a result of the observations we found out that in summer at the temperature of +33 - +35 oC and in winter at the temperature of -15 - -22 oC their activity is lost. In summer they are more frequently encountered when the temperature is +23 - +25 0C, meanwhile in winter, they are encountered if the temperature is not below -8 - -130C. One of the factors affecting the activity of Breech martens is the stress, resulted from the economic activities, that sometimes causes extinction.

Is nesting in closed nestboxes advantageous for the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)?

Background The European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) is eurytopic in its choice of nest site, which can be either half-open or closed, and situated either on the ground or at a height of several meters. On occasion, robins also nest in closed nestboxes, though generally only solitary such cases are documented, albeit that dozens of such events can be recorded during the course of some long-term studies. However, until now, nobody has summarised the peculiarities of robins nesting in closed nestboxes. Methods In the period 1978–2020, wooden tit and starling nestboxes were inspected regularly at five study sites in Lithuania, this totaling more than 18,000 nestbox-seasons. During these inspections, 90 cases of robins nesting in the nestboxes were recorded. Publications on this topic from the entire robin distribution range were reviewed. Results Robins prefer to nest in old large-sized fairly shallow nestboxes with wide entrance holes, for example starling nestboxes or tit nestboxes with enlarged entrance holes. Increased numbers of nestboxes being occupied by robins were recorded for 3–8 years in row. In Lithuania, nesting success in nestboxes is not higher than compared with nesting on the ground. Tree climbing mammals, Pine Martens (Martes martes), Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius), Edible Dormice (Glis glis) and Forest Dormice (Dryomys nitedula), are the main predators of robin nests in nestboxes. Conclusions Some geographic variation was found in the occurrence of robins nesting in nestboxes with more such cases recorded in central and southern parts of the range. Possibly robins are more philopatric in these parts of the range, with the same females or their offspring nesting in nestboxes for several years in row. In areas inhabited by dormice, nesting in closed nestboxes is not advantageous for robins.

Nuevos datos de distribución de marta Martes martes en Ourense, Galicia. El fototrampeo como herramienta de muestreo de la especie

Pine marten Martes martes is a medium size mustelid that inhabits well-conserved forests of the northern Iberian Peninsula. Currently, the distribution and ecology of the species in the Iberian Peninsula is poorly known. In this work, 27 UTM 10x10km grids in the province of Ourense were sampled using camera-trapping techniques, with the aim of increasing knowledge about the distribution of the species in Galicia. The presence of pine marten was confirmed in 18 of the surveyed grids, which increases the species´ known distribution area by 21% in this community and by 62% in Ourense province, confirming camera-trapping specific survey as a highly effective method to know the distribution of elusive species such as the pine marten.