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This article mentioned here in 2006 is available online now:

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.

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:

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

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

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 18^th 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 27^th 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 17^th 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 20^th of September 1989, when the eagle probably left the area to reach the wintering ground in Africa.

On the 16^th 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.

Some links to not big pictures representing Short-toed Eagles with enough near resemblance to reality:

We would like to bring an article of Prof. Vladimir Galushin to your attention. Now he is a head of the Working Group on Raptors of Northern Eurasia and also he is a honorary member of the Russian Bird Conservation Union. The work is dedicated to the nesting of Short-toed Eagle in the Ryazan’ Region (Centre of European part of Russia) /map/:

• Галушин В.М., 1959 – Некоторые данные по гнездованию змееяда в Рязанской области [Some data on the Short-toed Eagle breeding in Ryazan’ Region] // Орнитология. М.: Изд-во МГУ, Вып.2. 153-156. (Ru).

And one more text (Ru), that is an extract from his book:
• Галушин В.М., 1980 – Хищные птицы леса [Birds of Prey of Forest] – Лесная промышленность, 160 c.
…with two illustrations of V.A. Gorbatov.

Sergey Domashevsky’s article about Short-toed Eagle population of Kiev Region (Ukraine) /map/:

• С. В. Домашевский, 2005 – Распространение, численность и миграции змееяда (Circaetus gallicus) в Киевской области [Distribution, numbers and migrations of the Short-toed Eagle in Kiev Region] // Заповідна справа в Україні, 11 (1): 45-49. (Ru).

Its summary (En) and illustrations:

Some photos of Kiev Region’s Short-toed Eagles and their breeding places:

And a water-colour painting of flying Short-toed Eagle made by an artist Igor Zemlyanskih: