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Beginning of ST Eagle season in Europe

Apr 11, 2014 / Comment

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:

Pages of Francesco Petretti's notepad for April 5Pages of Francesco Petretti's notepad for April 5

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 38th 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, 19.03 : the pair of Short-toed Eagles at their nest : the male in the beautiful demonstrative poseBernard Joubert, 27.03 : the pair of Short-toed Eagles at their nest : a rare physical contact of partners

Bernard Joubert observed the same Short-toed Eagles at their old nest in Haute-Loire /map/ since March 10th. 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.

Konstantin Pismennyi, 05.04 : a pair of Short-toed Eagles at their breeding site : the female not far from the nestKonstantin Pismennyi, 05.04 : a pair of Short-toed Eagles at their breeding site : the male with prey

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

 

Presentation on feeding ecology in Central Italy

Dec 26, 2013 / Comment

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] – Short-toed Eagle. file (It) – presentation, 20 pages.

55 days old Short-toed Eagle chick with a Common Whip Snake (Zamenis viridiflavus) in the nest. Photo by Francesco Petretti
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.

 

Short-toed Eagles’ arrival at Italy in 2010

Mar 17, 2010 / 3 Comments
Short-toed Eagle (CIRCAETUS GALLICUS) / by PETRETTI F. 1986

The first Short-toed Eagle in Maremma /map/ was observed on the 5th of March in Ansedonia (Grosseto). On the 14th 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?