Please visit a website of Francesco Petretti – www.francescopetretti.it. It is updated weekly and you can find on it reports about observations of Short-toed Eagles in Central Italy /map/ containing some photos of them. There are several ways to get information on the subject: to search by keywords, for example, «Circaetus»; just to use the tags, such as «Short-toed Eagle» or «Biancone» etc.
A story of life and death of one Short-toed Eagle ringed by Francesco Petretti in Western Central Italy /map/ in 1989 is represented below:
The eagle was born on the 18th of May 1989 in Tolfa Hills, 40 km north of Rome. The parental pair built the nest on a very large deciduous oak tree covered with ivy on the north facing slope of the hill, at 400 metres of altitude.
On the 27th of June 1989 P0845 reached the maximum weight of 1,800 grams, then the weight decreased, as it is usual among fledging eagles in the study area, and on the 17th of July, when the eagle left the nest, she weighed 1,680 grams. She was fitted with a backpack radio for ground telemetry and moved within the home range for a couple of months. Contact with her was lost on the 20th of September 1989, when the eagle probably left the area to reach the wintering ground in Africa.
On the 16th of September 2012 the body of P0845 was found dead at a distance of only 9 km from the ringing site. The body was brought to the Raptor Center in Vico Lake Nature Reserve, but death causes are unknown. P0845 was at least 23 years and 4 months old and I suppose this is a longevity record for the species.
A new paper on autumn migration of Short-toed Eagle in Italy /map/ is placed on Guido Premuda‘s Sunbird.it under the Bibliography section:
• BAGHINO L., PREMUDA G. & GIRAUDO L., 2012 – Nuove analisi sulla migrazione post-riproduttiva del biancone Circaetus gallicus nell’Italia nord-occidentale [New analysis on post-breeding migration of Short-toed Eagle in north-western Italy] // Avocetta 36: 107-111. – 
(It) {rough translation}.
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.
Hello everyone,
I am writing to tell a strange incident happened yesterday: a lady calls the CRAS Pignola (PZ, Italy) /map/ saying she had found two «hawks» in trouble and asks if she can deliver. After an hour she arrived with a pair of Short-toed Eagle! The huge female is in good condition and will probably be released in a couple of days.
The male instead had deep lacerations to the chest and throat, so as to show the crop.
Basically the skin in some places no more, and also the pectoral muscle is damaged.
The crop was full ….. and a tail sticking out from the bill….. we pulled out a snake of 1.20 m ….. probably had it in the throat the day before, when the lady found them and brought home with him.
The strange thing is that the lady has told of seeing them sticking up in the air to fall on the ground. At that point they roll in a pond for irrigation, where she intervened.
According to the reconstruction the healthy one (the female) has repeatedly attacked the other’s throat causing him serious injuries.
A reconstruction does not convince me at all, has anyone had such experiences? That is, if by chance you know so much aggressive behavior between Short-toed Eagles?
Consider that the male will almost certainly not survive due to septicemia in very advanced stage.
A new paper on the circuitous migration of Short-toed Eagles from southern Italy /map/ to Africa has been published:
• Mellone U., Limiñana R., Mallìa E. & Urios V., 2011 – Extremely detoured migration in an inexperienced bird: interplay of transport costs and social interactions // Journal of Avian Biology 42: 468-472. – (En).
The PDF can be found on Ugo Mellone’s website.
The satellite tracking project continues in Southern Italy this year. Three juvenile Short-toed Eagles were tagged with transmitters in Regional Park Gallipoli Cognato /map/. The project is managed by Giuseppe Lucia and Ugo Mellone (University of Alicante). Maps with the tracks are available on the Regional Park Gallipoli Cognato website.