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).

Kunal Kambli in his recent post for The Weather Channel writes that Short-toed Eagle is among the species whose populations in India have declined in last years according to:

• SoIB 2020. State of India’s Birds, 2020: Range, trends and conservation status. The SoIB Partnership. Pp 50. – (En).

Unlike others, the population of Short-toeds in India is settled. Although, there are no more or less exact evaluations of its current size, it is undoubtedly significant, and the species is under highest legal protection in the country. However, the short- and long-term negative trends are ascertained on the background of the global population trend estimated as stable. This is a kind of unpleasant surprise and causes of the local population decline deserve to be figured out and analysed in details.

After the first reports of the breeding of Short-toed Eagle in Switzerland, the successful attempt was observed in Central Valais /map/ in 2017:

• Raphaël ARLETTAZ, Stéphane METTAZ & Klaus AGTEN, 2018 – Première nidification réussie du Circaète Jean-le-Blanc Circaetus gallicus en Suisse romande [The first successful nesting of Short-toed Eagle in Romandy] // Nos Oiseaux 65/3, N° 533: pp. 175-179. – (Fr).

The article is available on the University of Bern website.

The presented fact file is quite outstanding because it is mainly based on information collected in India, a region with the great sedentary Short-toed Eagle population. Despite the fact that the species biology in the region is definitely of great interest, too few data on it is currently available. Consequently, this information sheet contains details which could be fairly surprising for European researchers. Secondly, this is simply a good example of an informative poster. The file can be found on the Ela Foundation website.

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.

The interview has been published on the European Raptors website yet on March 12. This, already the forth one dedicated to Short-toed Eagle on the site, was taken by Markus Jais on February 20. This time Gregorio Moreno-Rueda shares his knowledge about the feeding ecology of Short-toed Eagles in Spain, their threats, why they lay only one egg and how the future looks like for those impressive raptors in that impressive country.