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Just some articles containing basic facts on distribution, biology and ecology of Short-toed Eagles in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria:

• J. Hordowski, 2015 – Gniazda i lęgi ptaków Polski [Polish birds’ nests and broods]: Gadożer Circaetus gallicus – pp. 515-522. – (Pl).

• С. Домашевський, К. Письменний, 2009 – Змієїд Circaetus gallicus // Червона книга України. Тваринний світ [Red book of Ukraine. Animals]: p. 425. – (Uk).

• B. Tonchev, T. Petrov, S. Stoychev, E. Stoynov, K. Velev, 2007 – Орел змияр Circaetus gallicus // Атлас на гнездящите птици в България [Atlas of the breeding birds in Bulgaria]: pp. 138-139. – (Bg)(En).

Many thanks to Guilad Friedemann for kind information about a new project of the KKL Fund – HD Web camera at a nest of Short-toed Eagle in Israel /map/. The online stream and a brief description of the project are available in Hebrew now, the English translation will appear soon. Besides, you can find texts about Guilad’s research in English and in Hebrew, view current data on observations of STE in the country and enjoy a video recently recorded with the installed camera; more clips are also listed on this page now. So help you Google Translate!

UPD May 1^st, 2015: the Facebook community has been created for uploading and watching video clips made with the camera.

Observations of Short-toed Eagles in Northern Ukraine in 2014 which deserve to be noted:

• K. PISMENNYI, 2015 – Data on breeding of Short-toed Eagle in Northern Ukraine – , XLS file with formulas – ; Replacement of the biggest 14 flight feathers – ; Some short notes on Short-toed Eagles in Northern Ukraine in 2014 // short-toed-eagle.net (En).

These fragments of Short-toed Eagles’ flights have been shot at their breeding territories and hunting grounds in Kiev Region /map/ and in Mizhrichynskyi Park /map/ this year. The video is commented on, please, pay attention on subtitles. You can see eagles A11, B11, K11 and L11 in the clip. Certainly, also other more melodious names were given them for routine use. These STEs occupy their breeding sites within the same home ranges from year to year since at least 2006 and 2010. For a regular observer every bird has obvious individual traits. The video without compression can be downloaded.

A website of the Ukrainian Birds of Prey Research Centre (Український центр досліджень хижих птахів) exists since 2008. Posts dedicated to Short-toed Eagle have also been published on it. They contain texts, tables and photos. The main of them are represented below:

• К. Письменный, 2014 – Спостереження за змієїдами біля їхніх гніздових ділянок [Observations of Short-toed Eagles at their breeding sites] (Uk).

• К. Письменный, 2013 – Некоторые результаты десятилетнего мониторинга змееяда на севере Украины [Some results of ten years monitoring of Short-toed Eagle in the North of Ukraine] (Ru) {related post}.

• С. Прокопенко, М. Бескаравайный, 2013 – Встречи змееядов в Крыму зимой 2013 года [Records of Short-toed Eagles in Crimea in winter 2013] (Ru) {related post}.

• К. Письменный, 2010 – Спутниковое слежение за миграциями змееяда [Satellite tracking of the Short-toed Eagle migration] (Ru)(En).

• С. Домашевский, М. Дравецки, М. Легоцки, М. Олекшак, 2010 – Результаты украинско-словацкой экспедиции на севере Украины [Results of Ukrainian-Slovac expedition to the north of Ukraine] (Ru)(En) {related post}.

• К. Письменный, С. Домашевский, Р. Ватрасевич, 2010 – Практика установки защиты от куниц на гнездовых деревьях хищных птиц [The practice of installing protection against martens for nesting trees of birds of prey] (Ru)(En).

• 2011 – Создание онлайн-определителя возраста и пола змееяда [Creation of online handbook for aging and sexing of Short-toed Eagle] (Ru) {related post}.

• 2010 – Опыт спасения гнезда змееяда [The experience of saving Short-toed Eagle’s nest] (Ru).

Rough translations from the original languages are available on the UBPRC website; please, use the special button in the top menu.

We would like to bring to your attention the 5^th gallery of photos taken by Bernard Joubert at a nest of Short-toed Eagle in Haute-Loire /map/. Although the pair has eventually occupied another (last year’s) nest for the breeding, Bernard’s camera has captured scenes of the early nesting behaviour of the birds. Thanks to the researcher, we have a possibility to see unique moments of this eagles’ life once again.

Monitoring of 9 different pairs of Short-toed Eagles has been conducted during 10 years in Northern Ukraine (Kiev Region /map/, Mizhrichynskyi Park /map/ of Chernihiv Region, southern part of Sumy Polissya /map/). Some calculations and results of the monitoring are represented in tabular forms:

• K. PISMENNYI, 2013 – Some data on breeding of Short-toed Eagle in Northern Ukraine // short-toed-eagle.net – ; in the form of XLS file with formulas: (En).

Average breeding success amounts to 0.60 juvenile / territorial pair and is quite close to this index for France: 0.57. The last result is based on observations of 2835 (!) breeding cases which have been managed to make by French national Circaetus gallicus network for 11 years (Bernard Joubert, personal communication). Also some other conclusions can be made: old pines (Pinus sylvestris) are prefered by Short-toed Eagles for nesting in Northern Ukraine; the eagles more often change their nests than they successfully breed; nest height is highly variable; the eagles’ choice of a nest depends on their previous breeding success; after an unsuccessful season the nest is changed with high probability, after successful one the following choice of a nest is unpredictable.