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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.

At this time, when Short-toed Eagles are arriving to their breeding sites in northern parts of their European and Asian areal, we would like to draw your attention to the article about Short-toed Eagle from the monograph of Dr. Alexander Abuladze:

• Abuladze A., 2013 – Materials towards a Fauna of Georgia. Is. VI. Birds of Prey of Georgia. – Tbilisi. – 218 pp.: Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus Gmelin, 1788 – P. 65-71. (En).

Heartfelt thanks to the author for sharing the text and photos of habitats! Johannes Jansen‘s review of the book can be found here.

This report on observations of Short-toed Eagle in the Alpes de Haute-Provence /map/ has been prepared by Cédric Arnaud. The document contains many photos and a lot of statistical data:

• Cédric ARNAUD, 2013 – Suivi du Circaète Jean-le-blanc dans les Alpes de Haute-Provence. Résultats du suivi pour l’année 2013 [Monitoring of Short-toed Eagle in the Alpes de Haute-Provence. Results for 2013]: 17 p. – (Fr) {rough translation}.

The list of contents (Fr): Inventaires – 2; Reproduction – 4; Régime alimentaire – 9; Migration – 10; Interventions de sensibilisation et échanges – 11; Centre de soins de la faune sauvage 04-05 Aquila – 11; Campagne de suivi 2013 – 12; Campagne de suivi et objectifs 2014 – 13; Observations particulières – 14; Article dans Terre Sauvage – 14; Participants – 15; Rendez-vous pour le suivi 2014 – 16; Résumé – 17.

The traditional report on monitoring of Short-toed Eagles in Cévennes National Park /map/:

• Jean-Pierre et Isabelle MALAFOSSE, 2013 – Le Circaète Jean-le-Blanc, résultats pour 2013. Suivi des Rapaces forestiers en Lozère et dans le Parc National des Cévennes [Short-toed Eagle, results for 2013. Monitoring of Raptors in Lozère and in the Cévennes National Park], rapport interne C.R.B.P.O./ P.N.C.: 9 p. – (Fr) {rough translation}.

The presented video has been made by Guilad Friedemann as a compilation of various moments of his ongoing research in the Judean Foothills (Israel) /map/ for 2013. The clip takes a little time (6 minutes) to view but provides an insight into the process of the field work and into conditions of it. Also you can see beautiful scenes of local wildlife. Just don’t forget to choose HD quality while watching the video.

The study had been conducted in a region of Gibraltar /map/ in 2009-2012. Antonio-Román Muñoz presented some results at the Conference on Wind Power and Environmental Impacts Stockholm 5-7 Feb 2013. Also you can get general ideas about the main research directions of the group of Spanish biologists:

• Beatriz YÁÑEZ, Antonio-Román MUÑOZ, Beatriz MARTIN, Manuela DE LUCAS, Bert TOXOPEUS & Miguel FERRER, 2013 – Effects of wind farms on local and migratory populations of Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus – (En) – presentation, 31 pages.

The presentation is available on a website of The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, as well as abstracts of the conference – (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.