Circaetus gallicus information navigator

Just a few words about a section of the LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux) Mission rapaces website. The section is dedicated to Short-toed Eagle and consists of the following subsections:

› Actualités – news, also you can subscribe to the feeds;

› Le Circaète – general info about Short-toed Eagle in France;

› Suivi et conservation – monitoring and conservation;

› Sensibilisation – sources of detailed information;

› Les acteurs locaux – local stakeholders in a map.

Now the section is updated regularly. Please subscribe to the news via RSS to be notified about news.

This year Short-toed Eagles’ breeding was observed in southwestern Switzerland /map/ for the first time. On the Oiseaux.ch website you can find the report on this written by Lionel Maumary:

• Lionel Maumary, 2012 – Le Circaète Jean-le-Blanc a niché en Suisse ! [Short-toed Eagle has bred in Switzerland] // Oiseaux.ch (Fr) {rough translation} – the text contains excellent pictures and video. Also photos of this pair of Short-toed Eagles taken by Thomas Nierle in April 2012 can be viewed here. The juvenile Eagle has left the nest succesfully!

Short review of the Short-toed Eagle specialists meeting which was held in Florac, centre of Cévennes National Park /map/ (Lozère, France), on October 13-14:

• 3e Rencontre Circaète : Florac, 13 et 14 Octobre 2012 (Fr). Heartfelt thanks to Renaud Nadal for sharing this! The meeting was successful. Let’s wish the organizers to maintain this good tradition in the future!

The Circaetus gallicus specialists’ meeting is planned to be held this year in Florac /map/. Please view the informational letter prepared by Bernard Joubert, Jean-Pierre Malafosse and Renaud Nadal: (Fr).

Such, already traditional, meetings are important for establishing closer contacts between the Short-toed Eagle watchers from different regions of France and also of other countries belonging to the range of this magnificient bird.

Bernard Joubert in his article raises questions of the behavioral ecology of Short-toed Eagle. It is generally accepted that these aspects are highlighted very poorly in relation to the Eagle. This topic is very difficult, with a high probability of erroneous judgments. But at the same time it is extremely exciting and worthy of close attention:

• Bernard JOUBERT, 2012 – Quelques considérations d’écologie comportementale [Some considerations of behavioral ecology] // short-toed-eagle.net (Fr).

This story is published on the Infos Étang de Berre website:

• René Coste, 2010 – Le sauvetage de «Balthazar», le circaète blessé, les amoureux des beaux oiseaux et, un vent de colère [Salvation of «Balthazar» – a wounded Short-toed Eagle] – (Fr).

It has reminded me a story of «Jeanne» – an invalid young Short-toed Eagle, which had been found at the nesting site with a broken right wing in 2008. A short article about the bird was written by me and was kindly translated by Bernard Joubert for its publication in the 8^th issue of La Plume du Circaète. The eagle had lived 2 years and finally died on August 5^th 2010 in the Odessa Zoo.

Veterinarians made the post-mortem examination, which showed not only a reason of the death – the bad condition of the bird’s digestive system, but also that «Jeanne» had actually been a male. My mistake in determination of the bird’s sex had been made because of several reasons:

Read the rest of this entry »

All the subsections are being updated along the year. In fact the main aim of the site is to present data on the Short-toed Eagles of the south of France where they do not have been study until now.