Bird communities in a restored Mediterranean wetland: a 10-year annotated checklist from the Geloi Plain (southern Sicily, Italy)

This study presents a ten-year annotated checklist of the avifauna of the Geloi Plain (southern Sicily), with particular focus on the restored Geloi Wetland private reserve, based on stan- dardized surveys conducted from 2016 to 2026. Bird data were collected through direct ob- servations, breeding bird monitoring and winter waterbird counts carried out within the framework of the International Waterbird Census (IWC). A total of 194 species belonging to 20 orders and 53 families were recorded, including 117 non-passerines and 77 passerines, with confirmed breeding for 70 species. Species richness increased from 105 species recorded in 2016 to 194 in 2026, reflecting both the long-term monitoring and the progressive ecolog- ical recovery of restored wetland habitats. Winter waterbird communities showed a significant increase in both species richness and abundance following habitat restoration carried out be- tween 2020 and 2022, which restored approximately 50–60 ha of wetland habitats. The abun- dance of several species showed marked increases after restoration, most notably including Common Teal (Anas crecca), Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) and Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus). The regular occurrence and confirmed breeding of conservation-priority species, including Euro- pean Roller (Coracias garrulus), Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), Stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola), Western Swamphen (Porphyrio por- phyrio) and White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), further highlight the ecological importance of this restored wetland system within an intensively cultivated Mediterranean landscape.