Project duration: June 2025 – July 2027

The Blue Rock Thrush (Merill, Monticola solitarius) is Malta’s national bird. It nests along cliffs and valleys but has been increasingly breeding within urban settings. The species is a widespread songbird in the Mediterranean, nesting in rock faces and foraging on invertebrates, small reptiles, and fruit. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN and considered as non-migratory across most of its range, particularly on islands. In non-migratory species, dispersal movements help birds find more food outside the breeding season; adults may leave or expand their territories once they are no longer constrained by nesting, while young may leave the natal territory on independence to reduce competition with the family party. However, on small islands the available space for expansion is limited.

Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean with the largest human population density and proportion of urbanised land area in Europe. The Blue Rock-Thrush is an emblematic species as the country’s national bird, and is a common and widespread breeder along cliffs and valleys, nesting between March and July. With the fragmentation of natural habitat, it has been increasingly recorded breeding in buildings within urban settings as these artificial structures offer parallels to natural features. The Blue Rock-Thrush is understudied across its range, and the consequences of its urban nesting are not understood; While the species has increased in urban areas, the growing urban sprawl and rapid loss of urban green space may jeopardise its future here if its food sources collapse.

’Merilli Malta’ is a long-term research and communication project aiming to answer questions regarding this species’ ecology whilst engaging the general public in the process to convey the importance of urban biodiversity for human wellbeing. Urban biodiversity is known to improve human quality of life, allowing people in built-up environments to reconnect with nature. This point of contact in people’s immediate lived in environment can be harnessed to increase awareness and appreciation towards nature and push towards making cities greener.

As an emblematic species, the Blue Rock Thrush is an ideal candidate for a citizen-science study to communicate the importance of urban biodiversity for human wellbeing while closing knowledge gaps on the ecology of the species.

The expected results of this project are:

• the launch and dissemination of an online citizen science platform where the public can learn about the species, our project, and urban biodiversity, and can participate in spotting colour-ringed birds,
• the installation of nest boxes and nest cameras to research breeding biology and bring nesting birds closer to communities in the process, and
• increased effort to ring more birds, especially through locating and accessing nests to ring juveniles.

 

“We want to help people to connect with nature in Malta’s urbanised environment! We believe that Malta’s national bird, the emblematic Blue Rock-thrush (Merill, Monticola solitarius), is an ideal candidate to create such connections. MEF funding will allow us to close knowledge gaps on this species’ ecology by taking a citizen-science approach, including a colour-ring re-sighting platform and the installation of nest boxes in the urban environment. Through this project, we aim to communicate the importance of urban biodiversity for human wellbeing.”

Dr Ben Metzger, Independent Researcher