Talk about

[maertha]

I added the link to the database, Kukelke, thanks. Unfortunately such crime scenes are difficult to investigate - many witnesses remain silent … A huge problem in several countries. Official statistics, UK 2013:

• •164 reports of shooting and destruction of birds of prey
  •74 reports of poisoning and the use of poisoned baits
  •14 nest robbery incidents, including four probable nest robberies from Schedule 1 species
  •29 reports of illegal taking, possession or sale of birds of prey
  •36 reports of illegal taking, possession or sale of wild birds other than birds of prey, predominantly finches

Source: RSPB. Read more: http://www.rspb.org.uk/forprofessionals ... birdcrime/

[maertha]

Good news: The Golden Eagle Trust published some news from the young Irish eagle Aoibheall which was born in May. She is doing well, and she “is showing all the signs she might spend the winter on Lough Derg.” Interesting information on the Mountshannon eagles, maps and pictures here: http://www.mountshannoneagles.ie/

[maertha]

Killing birds of prey was made illegal in Germany in the 1970s, but persecution of raptors still continues: According to NABU, one of the country´s oldest and largest environment associations, 689 cases have been documented between 2004 and 2014: At least 559 buzzards, 126 goshawks, 103 red kites, 32 sea eagles, 17 eagle owls, 16 peregrines, one lesser spotted eagle and one griffon vulture were killed - a total of 1.130 birds within ten years.

• How to report a wildlife crime in the UK: http://www.rspb.org.uk/forprofessionals ... eport.aspx
• Germany: Illegale Greifvogelverfolgung - Wie melde ich dem NABU aktuelle Fälle? http://www.nabu.de/aktionenundprojekte/ ... 17213.html
• Netherlands: Wildlife crime/vervolging van wilde fauna melden http://www.wildlifecrime.eu/

Click here to see some trap types: http://www.komitee.de/content/aktionen- ... allentypen

[maertha]

“Nice to see White-tailed Sea Eagles feature on signage for the new Coachford Greenway along the river Leewest of Cork city. WTSEs have been reported there at various times over the last few years.” Source: Golden Eagle Trust/Facebook, 6 November. Read more: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Golden-E ... 4808950774

[maertha]

A White-tailed Eagle pair seem to have settled down in Rovaniemi. The city, located on the Arctic Circle, is the capital of Finnish Lapland and the official home town of Santa Claus (and Mrs. Claus). Click here to read more about the eagles.


Source: Wikimedia Commons, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. Postcard from 1919, artist unknown

[macdoum]

Preliminary report on the death of White bellied Sea eagle S.E.13 in Sydney;

https://www.facebook.com/notes/eaglecam ... 6362076031

[maertha]

Stunning images: „Photographer Martin Jones captured the moment a white-tailed eagle swooped in front of a full moon on Mull, Scotland.”
MailOnline, 8 November 2014 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3IZF0Ia7m

[maertha]

According to LSM.LV/Public broadcasting of Latvia, more than 300.000 virtual visitors were counted during the country´s first successful White-tailed Eagle Cam season. The solar powered camera was set up in the Lubana Wetland Compex (LWC), situated in Eastern Latvia.

The LWC “covers a huge area of 48 000 ha, containing an impressive range of wetlands. It has long been recognised for having the highest biotope diversity of any inland wetland area in Latvia.” (Management of the Lubana Wetland Complex, Latvia LIFE03 NAT/LV/000083)


By maertha/Latvian WTE Cam

Urmas Sellis about the Latvian White-tailed Eagle webcam: http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/20346
More information on the Lubana Wetland Complex here: http://www.madona.lv/lubans/index_a.html

[maertha]

Strange news from Scandinavia:

Steller´s Sea Eagle spotted in Sweden
The uncommon visitor was reported on Tuesday by Viktor Eriksson, Ottenby Bird Observatory, Southern Öland.
More information on Steller's Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) here http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/specie ... hp?id=3366 and here http://www.arkive.org/stellers-sea-eagl ... pelagicus/

*

Norwegian Women kills eagle with shoe
According to Reidun Andersen, the young bird, obviously injured, sat in the middle of the street. The 60-year-old woman said she was attacked by the eagle when she tried to shoo it away - she panicked and killed it. Article in Swedish available at Expressen.se

[maertha]

What to do if you find an injured Bird of Prey.

Detailed description in English, provided by the Raptor Research Foundation.
http://www.raptorresearchfoundation.org ... bilitation

Erste Hilfe bei Greifvögeln und Eulen/First Aid for raptors and owls. In German, provided by Aquila-ev.de.

• Fixierung eines Mäusebussards. How to hold smaller raptors safely
• Transportkarton für Turmfalken, Sperber, Eulen. Transport carton for kestrels, sparrowhawks and owls

http://www.aquila-ev.de/erste_hilfe.html

[maertha]

Another dead WtE :-(. This one was killed by a Swedish hunter. Police found the bird in his freezer.

[maertha]

The producers of the 2013 Dutch award winning nature film “The New Wilderness” are busy with a new project: “Holland. Nature in the Delta".
Here is the teaser:


Published by Natuurmonumenten, 13 November 2014

[maertha]

Update/evidence photos: Hunter kills White-tailed eagle.
Aftonbladet, 19 November http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article19883345.ab

[maertha]

No eagle news today, but I want to share an inspirational video about the Biologist, Runner and Author Bernd Heinrich.
“I dearly like to be a bird”, he once said, “but running is a close second.”


Published by SalomonTrailRunning, 30 October 2013

YT description: “Bernd Heinrich is a retired Professor living in a log cabin in the woods of Western Maine. He has held numerous running records throughout his life and has committed much of his time to the study of the natural world. In Episode 01 we look back at this man's incredible life, his achievements, the lessons he has learned, and what we can possibly learn from him.”

[maertha]

Good news: The Dutch football team Go Ahead Eagles is able to win a match without the presence of their mascot Harly.
Bad news: Bald Eagle Harly had to stay at home because an outbreak of avian influenza in poultry caused a ban on transporting birds.

The highly pathogenic strain H5N8 was recently found in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI)/Federal Research Institute for Animal Health yesterday also confirmed the detection of the virus in a "healthy common teal shot by hunters in the Northeast of Germany", which "casts new light on possible introduction routes of the Korean origin H5N8 viruses into Europe." (FLI via ProMED-mail)


Common Teal, female. Photo: maertha

According to the FLI, no human infections with this virus have ever been reported, although the transmission of H5N8 to humans cannot be completely excluded. Protective measures when handling potentially infected domestic and wild birds are recommended by the institute. (Sources: FLI, 22 November; ProMED-mail/International Society for Infectious Diseases/FLI, "22 Nov 2014 Avian influenza (93): Germany, HPAI H5N8, migratory birds")

For detailed background information as of 20 November see: European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ecdc)/Publications/Technical Reports/PDF “Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) in Europe - update” http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publicatio ... tions.aspx

[maertha]

Update, avian influenza H5N8 in Europe:

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) “are recommending at-risk countries to

• increase surveillance efforts for the early detection of H5N8 and other influenza viruses;
• maintain and further strengthen rapid response capacities of veterinary services;
• reinforce biosecurity measures, with particular emphasis on minimizing contact between domestic poultry and wild birds;
• raise awareness of hunters and other individuals who may come into contact with wildlife in order to provide early information on sick or dead wild birds.

The new strain of avian influenza has not resulted in human cases. Nevertheless it is related to the H5N1 virus, which is known to have spread from Asia into Europe and Africa in 2005–2006. The H5N1 epidemic, in which wild birds have also been implicated, has caused the deaths of nearly 400 people and hundreds of millions of poultry to date. Therefore prudent and precautionary interventions at the animal level are warranted.” Source: OIE/FAO, press release, 24 November 2014

• 

“Air”. Painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593), public domain

What FAO suggests for people who come in contact with wildlife:

• Any unexplained excess mortality in wild birds, especially aquatic species, should be fully reported and investigated.
• Hunters should properly dispose of any remains from hunted wild birds. Hunters should also avoid contact with domestic poultry during or directly after hunting.

[maertha]

Questions and Answers on High Pathogenic H5N8 Avian influenza strain (Update 27/11/2014).
Source: World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) http://www.oie.int/for-the-media/press- ... -27112014/

• 

• "Still-Life with Turkey, Fruit and Flying Pigeon", 18th century.
  Painting by Baldassare de Caro, public domain

"Under the segment ´Where has influenza A (H5N8) been reported?', the OIE Q&A document says: 'this virus was initially reported as a low pathogenic strain in the State of Idaho in the United States in 2008 and again in 2014 in the State of California.'" (...) "A possibly earlier publication on HPAI H5N8 addressed a consignment of turkeys transported in 1983 from the Republic of Ireland to a processing plant in Northern Ireland. The nomenclature proposed by the authors for the isolate was "A/turkey/Ireland/83 (H5 N8)".

The reference is:
McNulty MS, Allan GM, McCracken RM, McParland PJ: Isolation of a highly pathogenic influenza virus from Turkeys, Avian Pathol. 1985; 14(1): 173-6; available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03079458508436216. - Mod.AS]" Source: ProMED-mail, 28 Nov 2014 Avian influenza (97): HPAI H5N8, Germany, prevention, Japan, wild bird

The "highly pathogenic avian influenza type H5N8 was discovered in the southwestern Tottori Prefecture in Japan, Kyodo news agency reported [Thu 27 Nov 2014]. The virus was detected in the analysis of duck fecal samples taken on 18 Nov 2014, according to the agency."
Source: sputniknews.com http://sputniknews.com/asia/20141127/1015219131.html, 27 November via ProMED-mail

[maertha]

Update, ProMED-mail, 3 Dec 2014 Avian influenza (100): Netherlands, HPAI H5, migratory birds, RFI
http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id ... 03.3008120

Update, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), statement on H5N8 and animal surveillance, 4 December: “To date, the H5N8 strain has not been linked to any cases in humans. Nevertheless, it is important to remain on the alert given the capacity of influenza viruses to mutate. With 75% of human emerging diseases being derived from pathogens transmitted by animals, whether domestic or wild, public health protection is inextricably linked to the preservation of animal health. Transmission of the Ebola virus from a wild animal to a human, followed by human-to-human transmission on a massive scale, is another tragically notorious example today.” http://www.oie.int/for-the-media/press- ... worldwide/

[maertha]

Zoltán Török´s award winning documentary, “Wild Hungary – A Water Wonderland”, is now available on YouTube

• “It is an exceptionally beautiful, well done and important documentary about wildlife in a country that very few of us know much about. It (…) has become one of the most watched films ever in Hungary. Films like this make us see the richness and value of our own nature: wildlife is not somewhere else, far away. It is right here, around us.” Matsalu International Nature Film Festival, Estonia
  
  ”Hungary is influenced by the rhythms of its rivers. White-tailed eagles, otters and enormous catfish share the wetlands with many other species living close to the local people, often unnoticed. The Country’s inhabitants have learnt to cope with alternating floods and droughts. “Wild Hungary” is their story presenting some never-before-filmed animal behavior like dancing deer or wintering catfish.” Sondrio Festival, Italy
  
  About Zoltan Török:
  “Zoltan Török is definitely a swamp guy. However he has always been longing for filming in the mountainous areas of the world but yet somehow he usually ends up with his camera in extensive wetlands where he enthusiastically feeds the mosquitoes. Zoltan Török is a director/producer and cinematographer.” Click on Sondrio Festival to read more.
  
  [youtube]mHHjosWMCx4#t=134[/youtube]
  Vad Magyarország - A vizek birodalma. Published 30 November 2014 by zozocam

[maertha]

The Golden Eagle Trust shared an interesting text at facebook: A note about a large raptor, probably a White-tailed Eagle, chained in the backyard of an Irish pub.
Seán Mac an tSíthigh discovered the story in a diary written in 1824 by an unknown author.

• 
  This file comes from Wellcome Images, a website operated by Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation based in the United Kingdom

The sad thing is that almost 200 years later still many wild and domestic animals are forced to live on a chain.