A STUDY ON THE RAPTOR MIGRATION HABITS IN THE EASTERN COAST OF CHINA

8 046 birds of prey were banded from 1985 to 1987 in Dalian City, Laotieshan District in Liaoning Province and Shangdong Province, which belonged to 2 orders, 3 families and 21 genera, of which 522 were Accipiter gcntilis, 1 828 A. virgatus, 2 404 A. nisus, 2155 Otus scops and 583 Asia otus, which account for 6.48%, 22.19% , 22.19%, 29.87% and 7.24% of the total respectively.The south-migrating birds of prey began to be seen to pass through the research regions from late-August to mid-December. A. virgatus was the first one captured on Sept. 1 and Buteo laguous was the last one captured on Dec. 12. From late August to early September, the birds of prey, such as A. virgatus, A. nisus, A. solocnsis, Pernis pitilorkyncnus, Falco tinnunculus, F. subbuteo migrated in turn. From late September to early October, came Circus cyaneus, Buteo buteo, Asio otus etc. in series. From late November to early December, B. lagopus etc. followed. The migrating peak was from early September to mid-November. Based on the data and analysis of net trapped birds and banding, the migrating peak for A. nisus, A. virgatus, O. scops, A. otus etc. that passed through three bird banding sites was nearly the whole. They were Sept.10~Oct.15, Sept. 15-Oct.25, Sept. 15-Oct.15, Oct.10~Nov.5 respectively. 29 birds of prey were recovered during 1985~ 1987. The recover information from Hebei, Shangdong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Liaoning and Heilongjiang Provinces showed that the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtse River and its vast southern part and the south-eastern coastal areas were the wintering regions for the birds of prey which migrated through Dalian, Laotieshan in Liaoning Province and Changdao, Qindao in Shangdong Province.