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War is not politics, it is the time when politics has ended.
The following articles have been published online this month. In the first one Ugo Mellone summarizes and analyzes results of many years of research on the migration of birds of prey through and around the Mediterranean Sea. The pattern of most circuitous migration route is exhibited by Short-toed Snake Eagle:
• Ugo MELLONE, 2020 – Sea crossing as a major determinant for the evolution of migratory strategies in soaring birds // Journal of Animal Ecology, 89 (6): pp.1298-1301. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13241 (En).
The next paper is dedicated to the complex roadkill study. Unexpectedly, STE gets on the top 10 of the most vulnerable species of Europe:
• Clara GRILO, Elena KOROLEVA, Richard ANDRÁŠIK, Michal BÍL, Manuela GONZÁLEZ‐SUÁREZ, 2020 – Roadkill risk and population vulnerability in European birds and mammals // Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. doi:10.1002/fee.2216 (En).
Egidio the adult male Short-toed Eagle has been mentioned on our site since 2013. His chick named Michele in memory of Michele Panuccio was tagged with a transmitter as well in 2019. The young eagle has returned to the region of birth exactly like his father did it in his second calendar year. You can read a story of them on the Inglorious Bustards site:
• S. TONKIN, 2020 – A tale of two Eagles // ingloriousbustards.com (En).
Also, Ugo Mellone tells about the tagged Short-toed Eagles in the interview which is available on the Medraptors Facebook page.
Three young Short-toed Eagles were tagged with transmitters when they were yet in the nests in Hungary, Montenegro and Italy in 2019. The eagles now are 2cy immature birds, still being tracked and their migration behaviour is of great interest.
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This article about behaviour and diet of Short-toed Eagles in the Forestry of Smilde in Western Drenthe /map/ is available on Natuurtijdschriften:
• Rob G. BIJLSMA, 2019 – Gedrag en voedsel van Slangenarenden Circaetus gallicus in een potentieel broedgebied in Nederland [Behaviour and diet of Short-toed Snake Eagles in a potential breeding area in The Netherlands] // De Takkeling, Vol. 27, No. 3: pp. 210-226. – 
(Nl).
The same pair of Short-toed Eagles returned to their breeding site in the Judean Foothills /map/
yet on February 26th. They were choosing between nests where HD cameras had been installed. Finally, after period of nest building, rituals and mating, the female laid an egg on March 18th. From that moment on, the broadcast has started.
All active streams within the project framework are put on the Israeli Birding Portal; also amazing videos are available on the Israel Raptor Nest Cam Facebook community.
The long field research on two raptors Short-toed Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard in the Judean Foothills /map/ allowed Guilad Friedemann to prepare his PhD Thesis which was published a few years ago:
• Guilad FRIEDEMANN, Yossi LESHEM, Ido IZHAKI, 2016 – Multidimensional differentiation in foraging resource use and competitive interactions over nesting sites between two sympatric top predators – PhD.Thesis: 104 p. – (En).
The document available at ResearchGate also contains articles published earlier and already covered on our site.
The research continues and we are looking forward to new broadcasts, videos and papers shared by the Israeli team.