8. December 2011
The small neotropical country Belize is home to many rare and endangered animals like the Jaguar and raptors like the Harpy Eagle, Black Solitary Eagle and others.
The Belize Raptor Research Institute (BRRI) works to learn more about the raptors in Belize and to protect them.
The BRRI work on several projects on the moment, incl:
1) The Hawk-Eagle Program
A project to study the Black Hawk-Eagle, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, and the Black and White Hawk Eagle. Not much is known about those species and everything the BRRI researchers can learn will help to protect those species.
2) The Solitary Eagle Project
The Black Solitary Eagle is a rare and hard to identify species found only locally across Central and parts of South America. The BRRI launched the Solitary Eagle Project in Belize as an effort to better understand this poorly known species, which is suffering from population declines for unknown reasons.
3) The Stygian Owl Project
This is another species about which not much is known. The BRRI has launched a study that will determine diet habits throughout the different seasons, relative density, habitat utilization, movement patterns, home-range and dispersal patterns of Stygian Owls.
You can learn more about the BRRI on their website and there you can also make a donation (see the “Donations” link at the top menu bar).
Belize Raptor Research Institute
Please consider making a donation, even small amounts of money will help!
1. November 2011
The White-tailed Eagle is the largest eagle in Europe, females can reach a wingspan of a little over 250cm. Over the last decades the population has increased in most countries where the species occurs.
A major backbone for the species in Europe is the Danube river. It breeds in all countries along the Danube except Germany (it breeds in Germany but not yet at the Danube).
About 2 weeks ago, a conference was held close to the Duna-Dráva National Park (Hungary) about the conservation of this magnificent eagle.
Many experts got together and we learned a lot about recent population trends, projects and threats affecting the White-tailed Eagle. Here are some summaries from the talks:
- Germany now has 700(!) pairs but not yet one at the Danube. This is for 2011. They are already regular winter visitors and several pairs in Bavaria are already quite close to the Danube so this is only a matter of time until Germany will also have White-tailed Eagles breeding along he Danube.
- Lead poisoning is still a serious threat for White-tailed Eagles and other raptors.
- A management plan has been written and was presented by Remo Probst (also see this interivew with Remo). The management plan will soon be published (I will announce it here once it is available)
- In Romania there are still gaps in our knowledge about the species, particularly outside the Danube delta.
- The White-tailed Eagle online database was announced. See here: White-taild Eagle online database .
- The Austrian population has reached 14 pairs and 15 young fledged (the species was extinct in Austria and the first recolonising pair was observed in 1999).
- The Hungarian population grew from about 20-30 pairs in the late 1980s to over 230 pairs in 2011.
The Danube Parks project has chosen the White-tailed Eagle as a flagship species for conservation along the Danube river and is working on projects to improve the conditions for the eagles and other species like the Danube sturgeons. This is a great network of protected areas and dedicated conservationists who have already achieved a lot and hopefully more projects will be realised in the coming years. The White-tailed Eagle is a great choice as a flagship species and from its protection many other species along the Danube river will benefit.
See the Danube Parks project website to learn more:
Danube Parks project
29. October 2011
The Golden Eagle Trust has published a summary of the Golden Eagle reintroduction project in Ireland for 2001 to 2011.
It contains breeding numbers, youngs fledged, birds released and much more. Illegal persecution is covered and at the end a summary for other raptor species like the Red Kite and the White-tailed Eagle is included.
Go here to read the full report:
Irish Golden Eagle Project Summary 2001-2011
23. October 2011
A recent and very important scientific publication providing a framework for the conservation of the Hen Harrier in the United Kingdom is available is a PDF download (90 pages).
To read and download the report, click here:
A Conservation Framework for Hen Harriers in the United Kingdom
6. October 2011
The proceedings on the 6th International Conference for Conservation of the Eastern Imperial Eagle are available for download:
Рroceedings on the 6th International Conference for Conservation of the Eastern Imperial Eagle.
For the download to work you have to register. It might happen that you will see a Bulgarian website when you click “Download the publication”. Just click on the English icon in the top right corner and the website will change back to English.
This is a must read for anyone interested in the Eastern Imperial Eagle. I don’t know of any publication with more up to date details on the species.
Also see this interview:
Interview with Dimitar Demerdjiev about the Eastern Imperial Eagle in Bulgaria
25. September 2011
The population of the Eastern Imperial Eagle in Austria and neighbouring countries is still small and every bird that dies because of humans is one too many.
Although the breeding success in 2011 was the highest in Austria since the species came back as a breeding species (10 pairs, 7 successful, 14 young fledged), one of the juveniles has already been shot – and this was only detected because the bird hat a transmitter which was attached to the young eagle by Birdlife Austria as part of their conservation program of the Eastern Imperial Eagle.
This is very sad and a shame that something like this still happens in 2011. And it is not the first case of an illegally shot eagle. Since 2007 at least 4 White-tailed Eagles have been shot. And more eagles (both species) have been poisoned during the last years. And of course not all illegally killed birds are found.
More information (in German ) can be found here:
http://www.birdlife.at/coro-skat/presse/junger-kaiseradler-abgeschossen.html
29. August 2011
Vultures are in trouble in many countries. In order to raise the public awareness about this fascinating creatures, there will be the International Vulture Awareness Day on September 3rd, 2011.
This annual event is supported by a huge number of organisations.
For more information, see here:
http://www.vultureday.org/2011/index.php
14. August 2011
Lead poisoning is a serious threat to many raptors like the White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Bearded Vulture or Steller’s Sea Eagle.
A new important German publication (with English summaries for every article) about this issue with a focus on the White-tailed Eagle is now available from the Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung in Berlin where Sea Eagle expert Oliver Krone and his team have been doing research on lead poisoning for many years.
The new book (more than 120 pages) was published after a conference on the topic in 2009 and has many papers about the feeding ecology, population dynamics and lead poisoning of the White-tailed Eagle and other species like the Bearded Vulture or the impressive Steller’s Sea Eagle.
This is a must read for anyone who is interested in lead poisoning and raptors.
More information about the book and important facts about White-tailed Eagles and lead poisoning is available here:
seeadlerforschung.de.
The table of contents of the new book is here (PDF):
http://seeadlerforschung.de/downloads/Inhaltsverzeichnis_II.pdf
A detailed and very good review in German of this publication written bei Dieter Haas can be found in this PDF:
BuchrezensionBlei.pdf
13. August 2011
The Egyptian in Vulture is a rare and endangered vulture species in almost all countries where the it occurs. In Bulgaria the BSPB is working hard to protect the species.
Now a new website is online with information about the species, the threats the birds face and what is done to protect them.
Conservation and Research of the Egyptian Vulture in Bulgaria
11. July 2011
16 more young White-tailed Sea Eagles from Norway have been moved to a secret location in Scotland where they will eventually be released into the wild as part a the reintroduction program for Europe’s largest eagle in eastern Scotland.
More information can be found on the RSPB website:
Safe arrival for sea eagle chicks