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The Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus is a sen sitive species whose national breeding population has been undergo ing a sharp decrease, up to 50%, in 2010 compared to the previous decade. Due to the lack of updated data and fragmented knowledge about its current status and distribution in Sicily, a specific and accu rate monitoring of this species was carried out during the years 2018 and 2019. About 230 km of coastline and 64 UTM squares 10x10 km were investigated during the breeding seasons, and a total of 205-287 pairs have been estimated for the whole region, distributed in 41 UTM squares (including the island of Favignana). Pairs are mainly concen trated in the complex of “Saline di Trapani and Stagnone di Marsala” and along the sandy coast of Gulf of Gela, with a higher abundance along the southeast coast of the region. Breeding population showed a decrease of 18-28% in number of pairs in comparison to the last esti mation of 250-400 pairs reported for the years 2009-2010. After the investigation of 108 km of coastline and 46 UTM squares, the Sicilian wintering population has been estimated at 376-563 ind., with winter ing flocks mainly concentrated in the wetlands of “Mazara del Vallo” and along the coasts of Syracuse and the Gulf of Gela. These updated estimates place Sicily as the second most important Italian region for the wintering of this species, just after Sardinia. For the first time, the data collected have made it possible to draw up qualitative-quantitative maps of C. alexandrinus distribution in Sicily, providing an important instrument for the management and planning of specific conservation actions, which should be based on habitat protection and implementa tion of appropriate artificial ecological niches.

A new complete check-list of Birds of Sicily is presented in this paper, with a comparison with previous lists for a period of one hundred and fifty years. Further, an unknown manuscript by Joseph Whitaker “Birds of Sicily”, dated back to ca. 1920, has been transcribed and is here presented integrally. Thus, lists of birds here presented have been separated as follows: i) Doderlein (1869–1874); ii) Whitaker (1920); iii) Iapichino & Massa (1989), Lo Valvo et al. (1993) iv) Corso (2005), Ientile & Massa (2008); v) 2010–2020: Massa et al. (2015) and personal observations; vi) long-term trend: personal observations. Overall, 437 species are listed. Out of 283 species regularly present in Sicily, over the long period here considered of one hundred and fifty years, 75 (26.5) resulted to maintain stable populations, 35 (12.4%) resulted increasing, 12 (4.2%) very increasing, 75 (26.5%) with declining populations, 34 (12%) with very declining populations and 11 (3.9%) became extinct. Further, 41 species (14.5%) showed a population trend different from the previous ones, that we classified as fluctuating. We discuss about seventy representatives of the previous categories.