The 5th Carinthian Raptor Migration Camp 2012 in Austria (near the Italian and Slovenian border) starts on August, 19th and ends on August 28th. In it’s fourth year, this successful raptor camp is a fantastic opportunity to experience raptor migration, meat other raptor enthusiasts and experts and learn more about those amazing birds.
I was there last year and we had great fun and saw many raptors incl. Common Buzzards, Hobbies and many Honey Buzzards. A few observers also saw a Griffon Vulture.
I will be there again this year giving a talk about raptor conservation in Europe (on August 27th).
If you can’t read the German just open the document and at the end you will find the email address of Remo Probst, the guy who is organising the camp. You can ask him further questions.
A globally threatened Eastern Imperial Eagle was poisoned in Bulgaria. The bird was killed by eating a poisonous pigeon-trap. This is very sad. For such a rare species, every lost bird is one too much.
In the last post I announced a new book about Hen Harriers published by Whittles Publishing. The same publisher has also recently announced another raptor book about the Common Kestrel. It will be published in April 2011 and is written by Gordon Riddle who has observed the Common Kestrel for almost 40 years in Britain.
Below is the information from the press release of the publisher:
An appealing book that rightfully raises the profile of the kestrel. It provides an extensive picture of this delightful falcon, including its lifestyle and the factors that affect its breeding success and survival. This is based upon almost 40 years monitoring of the kestrel in south-west Scotland and further afield by the author and colleagues, giving a flavour of the integrated approach to monitoring and conservation.
As well as the wealth of factual data, there are entertaining anecdotes and stories both from the author’s experiences and from the wider media coverage of this raptor over the years. The reader is taken to exotic locations such as the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Cape Verde Islands to see the endemic island kestrels which have always held a great fascination for the author.
Latest figures show an alarming decline of 36% in the kestrel population in the UK, with even more dramatic falls such as 64% in Scotland. The fieldwork techniques which play such an important role are detailed in a composite breeding season. The kestrel is not portrayed in isolation and the bird’s current circumstance is tied into the bigger picture of raptor conservation and the struggle against sustained persecution.
The author reflects upon the political, economic and conservation issues that have dominated this field in the past few decades and through this personal and well-informed account the reader gains access to the world of the kestrel.
Lack of suitable trees for nesting is a serious problem for Eastern Imperial Eagles in some parts of it’s range. Because of this nest platforms are often built in weak trees to help the eagles to build a stable nest.
In the long term, it is important to plant suitable trees. In Western Strandja in Bulgaria, BSPB volunteers afforested 1,4 ha of black poplars near one of the Imperial Eagle nests. In the long term, those trees will provide suitable nesting platforms for the Eastern Imperial Eagle and other raptors.
Illegal poisoning is a serious threat to many raptor species like all the European vultures but also Red and Black Kites, eagles or buzzards.
Mammals like Wolves or Brown Bears also are killed by this horrible practice.
The LIFE+ ANTIDOTO project aims to stop the poisoning of those animals in Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park (Italy), in the Andalusia Region (Spain) and the Aragon Region (Spain), all places rich in raptors.
More information in English, Italian and Spanish can be found here: www.lifeantidoto.it
WWGBP has published the proceedings of several world conferences on raptors as well as of other international meetings since 1989. To honor Robin Chancellor WWGBP has recently begun to digitise these publications and make them accessible free of charge to all interested persons.
The orgininal articles of the following publication can now be downloaded as PDF files from the website of WWGBP
BIRDS OF PREY BULLETIN N° 4
WWGBP: Berlin, London & Paris
ISBN 0254-6388,
This volume comprises 302 pages (size 14.5 x 21 cm, with cover in colour, many black&white photographs, stitched).
The RSPB worries about the future of Hen Harriers in England.
According to the RSPB there is habitat for about 300 pairs of Hen Harriers in the UK but only 12 pairs tried to nest there in 2010 and only 7 pairs were successful.
Widespread illegal persecution of the fully protected birds is the most serious threat for Hen Harriers in England.
The 4th Carinthian Raptor Migration Camp in Austria starts on August, 19th. In it’s fourth year, this successful raptor camp is a fantastic opportunity to experience raptor migration, meat other raptor enthusiasts and experts and learn more about those amazing birds.
To learn more, see this website of Birdlife Austria:
If you can’t read the German website, go down to the bottom of the website on click on “Kontakt”. This is the contact email address for further questions.
As the RSPB reports, Scottish environment minister Roseanna Cunningham announced a proposals to create six new Special Protection Areas (SPA) for golden eagles covering more than 400,000 hectares in northern and western Scotland. The consultations on the proposal will start in 2010.
Golden Eagles still face many threats in Scotland like prey loss, bad forestry management (Golden Eagles avoid areas with too much forest cover), development incl. wind farms and sadly, illegal persecution.
Hopefully, the new SPAs can be established and will help to protect Golden Eagles in Scotland.
If you visit short-toed-eagle.net, you can find several great new videos about the Short-toed Eagle filmed by Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna
The videos contain great material from a Short-toed Eagle nest in the Maremma Regional Park (Italy).
