7. September 2010
The Golden Eagle, 2nd edition
The first edition of “The Golden Eagle” by Jeff Watson, published in 1997 is one of the best raptor monographs ever published. Now, the 2nd edition of the book is available.
Unfortunately, Jeff Watson couldn’t finish it himself as he passed away. A great loss for the raptor community.
The book has been completed by Des Thompson and Helen Riley. The main focus of the book is based on studies from Scotland, but information from continental Europe, North America and elsewhere is also included.
Jeff Watson’s book covers the whole natural history of this large and spectacular eagle. There is no better book on Golden Eagles.
This wonderful book is highly recommend for everyone interested in Golden Eagles in particular and raptors or birds in general.
More information can be found at the publishers website:
Poyser Monographs: The Golden Eagle by: Jeff Watson , Keith Brockie
26. August 2010
This year, 19 Eastern Imperial Eagles fledged successfully in Bulgaria. This is one less than 2009. 2 birds were stolen by poachers before fledging successfully.
In the European part of Turkey, 25 young fledged successfully.
In both Turkey and Bulgaria there were losses due to storms during the summer.
More information:
19 juvenile Imperial Eagles flew successfully from their nests this year
Also, a new national action plan is currently been developed for the species in Bulgaria:
National Action Plan for the conservation of the Imperial Eagle in Bulgaria
24. August 2010
A new and very interesting paper about the hybridization between the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and the Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina in Europe has recently been published and made available for download on the website by Bernd Ulrich Meyburg:
Väli, Ü., V. Dombrovski, R. Treinys, U. Bergmanis, S. J. Daróczi, M. Dravecky, V. Ivanovski, J. Lontkowski, G. Maciorowski, B.-U. Meyburg, T. Mizera, R. Zeitz & H. Ellegren 2010: Widespread hybridization between the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and the Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina (Aves: Accipitriformes) in Europe. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 100: 725-736.
Download:
http://www.raptor-research.de/pdfs/a_rp800p/a_rp803_Widespread_hybridization.pdf
Also have a look at the many other interesting publications available on this website:
http://raptor-research.de
11. August 2010
Eastern Imperial Eagle, Austria, April 2009, © Markus Jais
A new paper on the Eastern Imperial Eagle has been published:
SPATIAL VARIATION IN PREY COMPOSITION AND ITS POSSIBLE EFFECT ON REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IN AN EXPANDING EASTERN IMPERIAL EAGLE (AQUILA HELIACA) POPULATION
Published by HORVÁTH, M, SZITTA, T, FIRMÁNSZKY, G, SOLTI, B, KOVÁCS, A and MOSKÁT, C.
in:
Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 56 (2), pp. 187–200, 2010
The paper can be downloaded here:
http://actazool.nhmus.hu/56/2/AZH_56_2_Horvath.pdf
1. August 2010
White-tailed Eagle nestling
©Emil Todorov
I am happy to announce another interview about the White-tailed Eagle, Europe’s largest eagle. This time, Emil Todorov from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds explains the current situation of this magnificent raptor in Bulgaria.
Interview with Emil Todorov about the White-tailed Eagle in Bulgaria
As in many other countries, the population of the White-tailed Eagle in Bulgaria has increased during the last years, although habitat loss is a threat – as in many other countries.
Emil explains the development of the population, the habitat and prey used by the eagles and which trees they use for nesting. He also explains current threats, wintering populations and what needs to be done to protect the species in the future.
Read the interview to learn more:
Interview with Emil Todorov about the White-tailed Eagle in Bulgaria
23. July 2010
The BSPB has put satellite transmitters on 5 more Bulgarian Eastern Imperial Eagles. This is part of the EU fundet LIFE+ project “Save the raptors”.
Last year, 7 birds were fitted with transmitters. Satellite transmitters are a great way to learn about the mortality of eagles. From those seven birds, 2 are still alive today and in Bulgaria. The other 5 died because of electrocution, poisoning or were shot by a poacher. Without satellite transmitters, it would have been very hard to find this out.
Only when the reasons of death are known for the birds, can be something done against it. For example here the power lines where the birds died can be made safe or a campaign against poisoning can be started.
More information:
5 more juvenile Imperial Eagles were tagged with satellite transmitters
7. July 2010
Golden Eagle
© Mike McGrady
I am happy to announce the first interview about Golden Eagles here on europeanraptors.org:
http://europeanraptors.org/interviews/interview_golden_eagle_great_britain_mike_mcgrady.html
The Golden Eagle is one of the largest and most spectacular raptors in Europe. In Great Britain lives a population of over 400 pairs. In this new interview, Mike McGrady, one of the leading experts on the Golden Eagle, talks about the current situation of this large raptor in Great Britain. Mike explains the current threats and what must be done to secure a future for Golden Eagles.
Mike also explains many interested details about the biology of the bird.
If you are interested in Golden Eagles, I highly recommend reading the interview.
23. June 2010
This year 23 young Eastern Imperial Eagles hatched in Bulgaria. There is hope for a few more chicks because of replacement clutches for some pairs.
According to the BSPB, for Bulgaria this means 1.4 chicks for a breeding pair in Bulgaria in 2010.
This year, only 16 pairs breed. In 2009 there were 18 pairs breeding. This may be due to an increased mortality in winter and early in the breeding season.
More information:
23 Imperial Eagles were hatched in Bulgaria
12. June 2010
A 3,500 km cycling tour from Naardermeer Lake (the Netherlands) to the Sakar Mountain and the Black Sea coast has started to promote European nature conservation.
The tour was started on April 23rd, 2010 and was planned to finish on June 10th-11th.
The trip started in the Netherlands at the lake Naardermeer, which is one of the oldest nature reserves in the Netherlands and ends at the Sakar mountain range in south-eastern Bulgaria which is a stronghold for endangered species like the Saker Falcon and the Eastern Imperial Eagle.
The Bulgarian organisation Green Balkans, who runs many raptor and nature conservation projects in Bulgaria is a partner of this tour. Make sure to visit their website to learn more about raptor conservation in Bulgaria.
Also have a look at this interview:
Interview with Simeon Marin from Green Balkans about the conservation of Eastern Imperial Eagles, Lesser Kestrels and Cinereous Vultures in Bulgaria.
More information about the cycling tour can be found here:
Cycling tour in protection of imperial eagle!
A cycling tour of some 3,500 kilometres to promote the conservation of extraordinary nature in Europe
30. May 2010
SEO/Birdlife Spain has recently published the results from census of Golden Eagles, Egyptian Vultures, Osprey, Griffon Vultures and Peregrine Falcons in Spain in 2008.
To gather all those date, a huge effort by many people was needed. SEO publishes all the results in free e-books (in PDF format).
Click on the cover of each PDF to download it.
Golden Eagle
Osprey
Egyptian Vulture
Griffon Vulture
Peregrine Falcon
The reports are very detailed, for example the one on the Golden Eagle has 189 pages.
Other results from earlier censuses can be found here (incl. Bonelli’s Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, several harrier species, Eleonora’s Falcon and many other birds):
http://www.seo.org/programa_seccion_ficha.cfm?idPrograma=3&idArticulo=225
The new results are very interesting. For example, for the Golden Eagle, the census found 1,553 definite pairs and 216 likely pairs which gives a Spanish population of 1,769 pairs. This makes Spain very important for the conservation of the Golden Eagle in Europe.
