European Raptors: Biology and Conservation

Second edition of “The Golden Eagle” by Jeff Watson available

pomarina — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:27:03 +0000

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

19 Eastern Imperial Eagles fledged in Bulgaria in 2010

pomarina — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:32:21 +0000

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

New publication: Widespread hybridization between the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and the Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina (Aves: Accipitriformes) in Europe

pomarina — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:13:32 +0000

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

Cinereous Vulture reintroduction in the Pyrenees: First chick about to leave nest in the wild

pomarina — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:30:04 +0000

The reintroduction program for the Cinereous Vulture in the Pyrenees has reached an important milestone. The first chick that hatched in the wild since the reintroduction program began is about the to leave the nest.
The juvenile vulture is a female and called “Gala”. With about 110 days old, the young bird will leave the nest very soon. It was fitted with a satellite transmitter to learn more about it’s movements. This also would help in the case of the bird dying, for example from poisoning or shooting. Hopefully this will not happen and the young female can breed herself in a few years.

This project is very important for the conservation of Europe’s largest raptors.

For more, including a video, see here:
Gala se prepara para el abandono del nido

New paper on diet of Eastern Imperial Eagle published

pomarina — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:05:53 +0000

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

New symposium about the Red Kite in Germany: Der Rotmilan, ein echter Europäer – Status und Schutzverantwortung

pomarina — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:51:43 +0000

On August 23rd, there will be a symposium on the Red Kite in Germany. There will be several very interesting presentations and discussions about the status of the Red Kite on it’s conservation.

More information including the program can be found here (German):
http://www.mufv.rlp.de/fileadmin/mufv/img/inhalte/natur/Rotmilan_2010_06_02_Druckfertig.pdf

New Interview with Emil Todorov about the White-tailed Eagle in Bulgaria

pomarina — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:35:25 +0000

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

4th Carinthian Raptor Migration Camp in Austria – starting August, 19th

pomarina — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:06:05 +0000

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:

http://www.birdlife.at/kaernten/raptorcamp/2010/index.html

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.

5 more juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagles were tagged with satellite transmitters in Bulgaria

pomarina — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:34:23 +0000

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

Upcoming conference about population ecology of raptors and owls in Germany October 2010

pomarina — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:47:28 +0000

In October 2010, the seventh conference “Populationsökologie von Greifvogel- und Eulenarten 2010″ (population ecology of raptor and owl species 2010) will be held in Halberstadt (Germany) from October, 21st – 24th.

This conference is held every four years. It will be full of interesting talks with many experts and raptor conservationists attending.

For more information (in German) see here:
http://www.greifvogelmonitoring.de/tagung_2010.html