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Hayfields on dried up valley bogs are one of the main hunting biotopes for agricultural lands in Polesie and for some places in Central Belarus. In this case – in the West Berezina River floodplain. Usually there is high number of Natrix natrix and almost full absence of Vipera berus in such places. The forest is very multivarious: has areas of pine, alder, oak, spruce, aspen etc.; some of those areas are very boggy.
Short-toed Eagle density: c. 1.3 pairs/100 km². Open the map.

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You can find an article of Christos G. Vlachos on the University of New Mexico. University Libraries website. The work was dedicated to Short-toed Eagle ecology in North-Eastern Greece /map/:

• CHRISTOS G. VLACHOS and NIKOLAOS K. PAPAGEORGIOU, 1994 – Diet, breeding success, and nest-site selection of the Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) in Northeastern Greece // Raptor Res. 28(1): 39-42. – (En).

A few articles of Prof. Viktor Belik (Rostov State Pedagogical University) on distribution, number and ecology of Short-toed Eagles in several different regions (Ru):

• Белик В.П., 1994 – Распространение, численность и экология змееяда в степном Подонье [Distribution, number and ecology of Short-toed Eagle in steppe Podonie] // Кавказ. орнитол. вестник, вып.6.- Ставрополь. – С.26-29. /map/.

• Афанасьев В.Т., Белик В.П., 1998 – Змееяд в Сумском Полесье [Short-toed Eagle in Sumy Polesie] // Птицы бассейна Сев. Донца, вып.4-5: Мат-лы 4 и 5 конф. “Изучение и охрана птиц басс. Сев. Донца”. – Харьков. – С.45-46. /map/.

• Белик В.П., Ветров В.В., Бабич М.В., Трофименко В.В., 1999 – Змееяд в Волгоградской области [Short-toed Eagle in Volgograd Region] // 3 конф. по хищным птицам Вост. Европы и Сев. Азии: Мат-лы конф., ч.2.- Ставрополь. – С.20-23. /map/.

The photos were taken during an expedition of Prof. Belik in summer of 2008 in Volgograd Region.

This text opening La Plume du Circaète n° 6 was written by Bernard Joubert and translated to English by Yves Forget. This view of birds studies can be interesting for Short-toed Eagle watchers and researchers in other countries:

For many of us, a bird of prey is much more than a flying machine.
It is first of all an elegant bird of an absolute beauty. It is the being who breathes, who eats, communicates, moves, suffers, reproduces, interacts, fears. In brief, a being on the whole not so remote from us. If we take a good look at it, we are amazed by the subtlety of the strategies which it shows to continue to live in its environment.

If it is almost impossible for the observer who makes the effort to look at him simply, not to develop a certain shape of empathy (sorry Mister Lorenz!), this one can nevertheless keep a certain distance face to face of its subject of observation, a certain objectivity and so develop a speech which we can qualify as scientific.

For some, however, the bird never becomes a close friend. It is never the young-nervous-male-from-the-rocky-valley or just as well the dark-not-so-wild-female. It still remains an animal, a lower being to whom we are entitled to make everything undergo, in defiance of its identity, of its beauty and – who knows? – of its emotionality. And so much the worse for the sublime wanderer transformed in a bum by a piece of plastic.

And so much the worse for the dreamers, the aesthetes and the other visionaries who have an aggravated sensibility.
They are not serious.

But, this sensibility, isn’t it all the essence of our humanity? And doesn’t it not open the doors of the knowledge as wide as that of professed researches where the identity of the bird is corrupted without the shadow of a scruple?

Bernard Joubert

This small gallery is composed of Vladimir Ivanovski’s pictures. The photos were taken in Northern Belarus /map/. Also here you can see Short-toed Eagle chick in the artificial nest built by Dr. Ivanovski for them. He is an author of the special method of the building.

Please download and read a new article of Richard Frèze on Short-toed Eagle in Provence /map/:

• Richard Frèze, 2008 – Étude de la population de Circaètes sur le massif de la Sainte-Baume et les collines environnantes [Study of Short-toed Eagle population on the Massif de la Sainte-Baume and the surrounding hills] – (Fr) {rough translation}.

And also enjoy please some pictures from it: