Circaetus gallicus information navigator

The following articles have been published online this month. In the first one Ugo Mellone summarizes and analyzes results of many years of research on the migration of birds of prey through and around the Mediterranean Sea. The pattern of most circuitous migration route is exhibited by Short-toed Snake Eagle:

• Ugo MELLONE, 2020 – Sea crossing as a major determinant for the evolution of migratory strategies in soaring birds // Journal of Animal Ecology, 89 (6): pp.1298-1301. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13241 (En).

The next paper is dedicated to the complex roadkill study. Unexpectedly, STE gets on the top 10 of the most vulnerable species of Europe:

• Clara GRILO, Elena KOROLEVA, Richard ANDRÁŠIK, Michal BÍL, Manuela GONZÁLEZ‐SUÁREZ, 2020 – Roadkill risk and population vulnerability in European birds and mammals // Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. doi:10.1002/fee.2216 (En).

Three young Short-toed Eagles were tagged with transmitters when they were yet in the nests in Hungary, Montenegro and Italy in 2019. The eagles now are 2cy immature birds, still being tracked and their migration behaviour is of great interest.

Egidio is an adult Short-toed Eagle male tagged with a satellite transmitter being a chick in the Regional Park Gallipoli Cognato /map/ in 2013. He successfully bred in 2019 and had his own fledgling. The juvenile Short-toed has been tagged with a transmitter as well and named Michele after late Michele Panuccio. The tracker was installed at the end of July by Michele’s friends, members of the Mediterranean Raptor Migration Network: Ugo Mellone, Nicolantonio Agostini, Giuseppe Lucia and Vicente Urios (MEDRAPTORS.org, MEDRAPTORS Facebook).

Current tracks of both the eagles are available on the project page.

Please read the obituary for Michele Panuccio:

• Nicolantonio AGOSTINI and Ugo MELLONE, 2019 – Obituary – Michele Panuccio, 1976-2019 // Avocetta, 43 (1): pp. 95-96. – (En).

Örs the satellite-tagged Short-toed Eagle, marked as a juvenile in 2017, has returned to Hungary after two years. He hatched in the area of the Kiskunság National Park /map/ being famous for hosting the only known nesting population in the Hungarian lowlands. He spent the past winter in the Sahel Zone on the border of Sudan and South Sudan, a regular wintering area for the species. On the last day of March, he packed up and started his northbound migration, however, he stopped in Central Turkey and we were worried that he would spend the entire summer there again, after the summer of 2018. Fortunately, he decided to move on on June 24 and to our delight, he reached the border between Croatia and Hungary a bit more than a week later. Since then, he paid a visit to Burgenland, Austria and Western Slovakia where he stopped at military bases, which were probably familiar for him since he was born in one of those in Hungary. Recently, he has been in Northwestern Hungary, an area where observations of this species are quite rare.

We hope eventually he will visit his home ground and may also mark a few, so far unknown, territories in the Kiskunság area.

Gábor Papp

The map of Örs’ tracks is available on SATELLITETRACKING.EU.

The first results of juvenile Short-toed Eagle tracking from the Telašćica Nature Park /map/ in Croatia are represented in the recent paper:

• Sven KAPELJ, Ivan BUDINSKI, Mate ZEC, Ivan KATANOVIĆ, Ivana ŠARIĆ, Iva ŠOŠTARIĆ, 2017 – The first results of GPS tracking of the Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus in Croatia // Larus, Vol. 52, No. 1: pp. 65-67. – (En).

The PDF is available on the Portal of scientific journals of Croatia HRČAK.

Within the framework of the Turjánvidék LIFE project, which aims the preservation of habitats of such species as the endangered Hungarian Meadow Viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis), two Ecotone GPS-GSM trackers were bought in 2016. The main aim was to follow the life of a Short-toed Eagle pair residing close to and hunting regularly on viper habitats. Since the capture of the adult male failed in 2017, experts marked the offspring of this pair with the transmitter /map/. The chick was named Örs, an ancient Hungarian name meaning «human», «man» or «hero» but also a name of a Hungarian tribe from ancient times.

Örs left the natal area on October 1^st and its tracks can be followed on SATELLITETRACKING.EU.

The other transmitter was deployed on a repatriated individual in 2016, which died two months later in Poland. Its tracks are not available on the aforementioned website yet, however, another post will appear here if so.

Gábor Papp

Many thanks to Luca Baghino for sharing this fresh article dedicated to ongoing studies of Short-toed Eagle migration from regions of Europe:

• Nicolantonio AGOSTINI, Luca BAGHINO, Wouter M. G. VANSTEELANT & Michele PANUCCIO, 2016 – Age-related timing of Short-toed Snake Eagle Circaetus gallicus migration along detoured and direct flyways // Bird Study, DOI: 10.1080 / 00063657.2016.1264362. – (En).

The paper is available on the ResearchGate and Medraptors websites.