Circaetus gallicus information navigator

We are continuing to collect various texts about Short-toed Eagle records and observations in various regions. Along records in modern online databases, they give the fuller patern of the species distribution and its evolution within recent decades:

The following extended descriptions of observations of Short-toed Eagles in Flanders /map/ (the nothern portion of Belgium) are available on the Natuurpunt website (Nl):

• Wouter FAVEYTS, 2010 – 2010: een superjaar voor Slangenarend in Vlaanderen [2010 – a bumper year for Short-toed Eagle in Flanders] // Natuur.oriolus, 76(4): pp. 132-134. – . The article contains English and French summaries.

…and other texts:

• Dominique VERBELEN, 2014 – Slangenarend Jacobus zorgt voor spektakel in de Kalkense Meersen [Short-toed Eagle makes a show in Kalkense Meersen] // www.natuurpunt.be.

• Han LAGRING, Gerald DRIESSENS, 2015 – Slangenarend op bedevaart in Groot Schietveld [Short-toed Eagle on a pilgrimage in Groot Schietveld] // www.natuurpunt.be.

We wrote about these two papers (López-Iborra et al., Yáñez et al.) after they had been published. Now full texts of them are available as well:

• G. M. López-Iborra, R. Limiñana, D. Pavón and J. E. Martínez-Pérez, 2011 – Modelling the distribution of Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) in semi-arid Mediterranean landscapes: identifying important explanatory variables and their implications for its conservation // European Journal of Wildlife Research, 57: pp. 83-93. – (En).

• B. Yáñez, A.-R. Muñoz, K. L. Bildstein, I. Newton, A. G. Toxopeus and M. Ferrer, 2014 – Individual Variation in the Over-Summering Areas of Immature Short-Toed Snake Eagles Circaetus gallicus // Acta Ornithologica, 49 (1): pp. 137-141. – (En).

This bird had been photographed by Javier G. in Peñaflor (the environments of Zaragoza city, Spain) /map/ in August 2013. Thanks to the author and to Javier Blasco-Zumeta we have the following information about that unique record of leucism in Short-toed Snake Eagle:

That absolutely white bird was born in a forest of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), successfully left the nest, was observed in its territory until the end of September, and when it was time to start the migration the juvenile Short-toed Eagle flew away.

If the bird has survived, its return to Europe may be expected next year, after 2 years of probable wintering and summering in Africa.

Two new works of Short-toed Eagle researchers are available on the Web now. Please, find the abstracts on the following pages:

Two more articles on migration of Short-toed Eagles came out this year:

• Mellone U., Klaassen R.H.G., García-Ripollés C., Limiñana R., López-López P., Pavón D., Strandberg R., Urios V., Vardakis M., Alerstam T., 2012 – Interspecific comparison of the performance of soaring migrants in relation to morphology, meteorological conditions and migration strategies // PLoS ONE 7(7): e39833. doi:10.1371 / journal.pone.0039833 – (En).

• Frédéric Jiguet, Damien Chevallier, François Baillon, Julien Ventroux & Pascal Cavallin, 2012 – Sub-Saharan staging areas of a first-summer Short-toed Snake Eagle Circaetus gallicus // Bird Study, 59(1): 102-104. (En).

The first one is based on comparative data concerning Osprey, Marsh Harrier, Egyptian Vulture and Short-toed Eagle.

A new short report about summering immature Short-toed Eagles in Africa has been published. We express our gratitude to Ugo Mellone for placing the PDF version of it on his website:

• Ugo Mellone, Beatriz Yáñez, Rubén Limiñana, A.-Román Muñoz, Diego Pavón, J.-Miguel González, Vicente Urios & Miguel Ferrer, 2011 – Summer staging areas of non-breeding Short-toed Snake Eagles Circaetus gallicus // Bird Study, iFirst: 1-6. – (En).