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One more season of Short-toed Eagles’ stay in Europe has begun recently. Observers watched the first scenes of their breeding activity. Please enjoy some pictures and photos:

Breeding and survey season 2014 started with a rainy day in Maremma, Central Italy /map/. In spite of the bad weather, the pair was doing its job and this is my 38^th year with the Short-toed Eagles.

Francesco Petretti (www.francescopetretti.it)

At the first blush the pictures by Francesco are simple and rough, but they are accurate and for an experienced observer all the depicted scenes are easy to imagine in reality.

Bernard Joubert observed the same Short-toed Eagles at their old nest in Haute-Loire /map/ since March 10^th. The pair occupied the nest also in 2009 and 2012 years. A special hide allows getting unique knowledge of the behaviour of the eagles and taking magnificent photos. According to a recent message from Bernard, the female has finally chosen another nest – one that was occupied in 2013.

My observations at breeding sites of ST Eagles in Kiev Region /map/ began on April 5^th. Like in Haute-Loire the same old pair at first seems to be going to occupy the same nest, for 4^th year in a row. Now we have to wait and see what will happen next.

Francesco Petretti reports the findings of a long term study of the feeding ecology of two populations of Short-toed Eagle in Western Central Italy /map/: Maremma Regional Park /map/ and Tolfa hills. In both areas snakes represented the bulk of the diet, but there were significant differences in the selection of prey species with a higher number of “not-conventional prey species”, e.g. mammals and toads, in Maremma Regional Park and a stronger predation on Hierophis (Zamenis) viridiflavus in Tolfa hills. The study is in progress and will be implemented in 2014.

• Francesco Petretti, 2012 – Ecologia alimentare del Biancone (Circaetus gallicus) in due aree di studio in Italia Centrale [Feeding ecology of Short-toed Eagle in two study areas in Central Italy] – (It) – presentation, 20 pages.

The presentation is published on the Stazione Romana Osservazione e Protezione Uccelli (SROPU) website. It contains tables, diagrams and beautiful photos of Short-toed Eagles and snakes.

These next photos were recently recieved from Vincenzo. All of them are taken in Maremma Regional Park /map/. 4 Short-toed Eagle nests are controlled in the Park this year. The season promises to be successful. You can view other Vincenzo’s photos on the Flickr gallery.

Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna continues to make videos in Maremma Regional Park /map/. Please enjoy new scenes of Short-toed Eagle’s live in the nests controlled by Vincenzo this year. Both these videos were taken on June 29^th. Also, have a look at new photos uploaded recently.

Also you can enjoy all videos uploaded by Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna directly on YouTube.

This is just a message of Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna from Maremma Regional Park /map/: the first Short-toed Eagle chick hatched in the Park on May 22^d in the observer’s estimation. In the video we can see the first moment when the chick was left alone in the nest for about 20 minutes. Thank you for the fresh news, Vincenzo!

The first Short-toed Eagle in Maremma /map/ was observed on the 5^th of March in Ansedonia (Grosseto). On the 14^th of March 1 pair was in its nesting territory in Tolfa hills (Roma)/map/: the male was performing a “wing flap display”. The weather now is fine but the temperature is low and approaches zero degree during the night. No snakes at all, maybe the eagles are able to survive without food for few days or to rely on toads?

New videos made by Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna in 2009 are uploaded on YouTube. A summer life of one more Short-toed Eagle nest in Maremma Regional Park /map/ is illustrated by them:

You can enjoy all videos uploaded by Vincenzo directly on YouTube. Also 5 videos are commented by the author.