Malta remains the only country in Europe without a viable breeding population of any bird of prey or finch species, despite having available breeding habitat and food supplies.
This was just one of the results that emerged in the first Malta Breeding Bird Atlas, launched by BirdLife Malta yesterday at the Natural History Museum in Mdina.
Surveys for the atlas found that a total of 29 species bred in Malta last year, along with a further eight that were listed as "possible" or "probable".
Some species, such as the Spanish Sparrow, Zitting Cisticola and Sardinian Warbler, were widespread and recorded in most areas. However, songbirds (finches), which are targeted by trappers, raptors and poachers, were either extremely rare or not present.
The atlas also highlights the importance of seabird populations, with internationally important populations of Cory's Shearwater, Yelkouan Shearwater and European Storm-petrel.
"This is an important milestone for bird conservation in Malta," said Joe Sultana, one of the co-authors of the atlas.
"By repeating these standardised surveys every five years, we will now be able to chart the changing fortunes of all of our breeding birds. This is critical if we are to safeguard our breeding bird species into the future and their habitats," he said.
Over 30 local and international ornithologists took part in the surveys, which recorded more than 54,000 birds during the spring and summer of last year. The atlas examines the breeding distribution of all Malta's breeding bird species last year by mapping every species on a one-kilometre square grid across Malta and Gozo.
The conservation benefits of the ban on spring hunting are also evident in the atlas results, with species such as Collared Dove and Common Swift experiencing their best breeding seasons on record. Atlas fieldworkers also recorded Turtle Doves in several squares, with birds carrying out breeding displays and pairs in suitable breeding habitat in the summer.
BirdLife's conservation manager André Raine, who co-ordinated the study, pointed to the fact that with the opening of the rabbit hunting season on June 1 these pairs of Turtle Doves soon disappeared.
"It is evident that the breeding bird species which are targeted by trappers and poachers have now been reduced to small remnant populations in Malta. In 2008, Malta still does not have a viable breeding population of species such as the Common Kestrel, and no breeding Peregrine Falcons or Barn Owls which bred in significant numbers in the past," said Dr Raine.
"Malta is also the only place in Europe where the spring is not heralded by the songs of breeding wild finches. With the ban on spring hunting and the end of trapping in Malta, we will hopefully see a reversal of fortunes for species such as these. However this will only happen if the law is properly enforced," Dr Raine concluded.
Using standard methodologies that are utilised for other European atlases, the first Breeding Bird Atlas of Malta was put together in collaboration with the British Trust for Ornithology and sponsored by the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs.
The Malta Breeding Bird Atlas 2008 can be purchased from the Ghadira and Is-Simar nature reserves, some bookshops and directly from BirdLife's offices.