Two protected birds were shot just a few hours before the start of the spring hunting season, Birdlife said on Wednesday.

The shot yellow-legged gull. Photo: Birdlife

It said in a statement that a marsh harrier and a yellow-legged gull were found shot by members of the public at Mġarr and Tas-Safra, respectively.

Birdlife said the total of illegal hunting casualties for 2019 so far stood at 22.

It said that this year’s spring season, was open only for quail and ran between Wednesday and April 30. 

Birdlife said it would  be monitoring the season to report and document the killing of protected species, especially the turtle dove.

It prepared a video explaining the evident differences between quail and turtle doves to help the public recognise which were being hunted and enable them to identify any illegal hunting taking place. 

Birdlife asked the public to report incidents of illegal hunting to the police by calling 110 or Birdlife on 2134 7645/6 during office hours or 7925 5697 in the evenings and on weekends. People who spot poachers should try and take photos or videos as evidence, they said. 

[video type="youtube" src="https://youtu.be/rGVl3_7PTyM"][/video]