Please check out the 2nd circular with the full program of the September Conference on Short-toed Eagle and conservation of Mediterranean Raptors (It): Programma del Convegno “Sotto il segno del biancone” [Program of the meeting “Under the Sign of Short-toed Eagle”] – 
; the last corrected version of the second day’s agenda – .
Our sincere gratitude to Francesco Petretti again!
Please get detailed information about the September Conference on Short-toed Eagle: Sotto il segno del biancone [Under the Sign of Short-toed Eagle] – (It).
Many thanks to Francesco Petretti for sharing this!
Some news about the migration of ST Eagles in the Italian Peninsula.
Guido Premuda‘s Sunbird.it has been complemented with new papers (It) on the Bibliography page. They all are dedicated to observations of migratory birds of prey in the Apuan Alps /map/ during several consecutive seasons, including records of numerous Short-toed Eagles:
• PREMUDA G., 2011 – La migrazione dei rapaci sulle Alpi Apuane (LU): campo autunno 2011 [The migration of birds of prey in the Apuan Alps: autumn camp 2011]. Infomigrans, 28-2011. – .
• PREMUDA G., 2012 – La migrazione sulle Alpi Apuane (LU): campo Biancone Primavera 2012 [The migration in the Apuan Alps: spring Short-toed Eagle camp 2012]. Infomigrans 29-2012. – .
• PREMUDA G., 2013 – La migrazione dei rapaci sulle Alpi Apuane: campo Biancone primavera 2013 [The migration of birds of prey in the Apuan Alps: spring Short-toed Eagle camp 2013]. Infomigrans 31-2013. – .
• PREMUDA G., 2013 – Alpi Apuane (LU): campo Biancone settembre 2013 [The Apuan Alps: September Short-toed Eagle camp 2013]. Infomigrans 32-2013. – .
• PREMUDA G. & FRANCHINI M., 2014 – Alpi Apuane (LU): campo Biancone settembre 2014 [The Apuan Alps: September Short-toed Eagle camp 2014]. Infomigrans 34-2014. – .
This spring Egidio arrived in his birthplace again. This is a young male Short-toed Eagle fitted with a satellite transmitter in Regional Park Gallipoli Cognato /map/ in 2013 within the project which had been started with participation of Ugo Mellone yet in 2010 and later continued by Giuseppe Lucia.
The following detailed article dedicated to ecological and ethological aspects of biology of Short-toed Eagle had been published 35 years ago. The text addresses a variety of topics and can be of great interest to anyone who is studying the species. It is printed on 87 pages, has many beautiful pictures and includes data on distribution and conservation of STE on the Italian Peninsula:
• Silvio BRUNO, Fabio PERCO, 1980 – Considerazioni ecologiche ed etologiche sul Biancone (Circaetus gallicus) [Ecological and ethological considerations on Short-toed Eagle] // Natura bresciana, vol. 17: pp. 124-210. – (It).
The article is available on the Museo di Scienze webpage.
These articles were published in 2012-2013. They all are dedicated to studies of migration of Short-toed Eagles. Now the full texts can be found on a site of Mediterranean Raptor Migration Network, on the section of papers:
• Ugo Mellone, Ruben Limiñana, Pascual López-López, Giuseppe Lucia, Egidio Mallìa, Marta Romero & Vicente Urios, 2013 – Tra Europa e Africa: i movimenti di falco della Regina Falco eleonorae, grillaio Falco naumanni e biancone Circaetus gallicus rivelati dalla telemetria satellitare [Between Europe and Africa: movements of Eleonora’s Falcon, Lesser Kestrel and Short-toed Snake Eagle as revealed by satellite telemetry] // Proceedings of the XVII Italian Ornithological Congress. Trento, September 2013: pp. 142-143. – (It).
• Michele Panuccio, Nicolantonio Agostini, Luca Baghino & Giuseppe Bogliani, 2013 – Visible Migration of Short-Toed Snake-Eagles: Interplay of Weather and Topographical Features // Journal of Raptor Research 47(1): pp. 60-68. – (En).
• Michele Panuccio, Nicolantonio Agostini & Guido Premuda, 2012 – Ecological barriers promote risk minimization strategy and social learning in migrating Short-toed Snake Eagles // Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 24.1: pp. 74-80. – (En).
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.
Two young Short-toed Eagles, this time Egidio and Irene, have been fitted with satellite transmitters in Regional Park Gallipoli Cognato /map/ again. You can find the map showing the birds’ migration and also read a short history of the project since 2010 on the same webpage. Thanks to Ugo Mellone for informing us!