Two year-old German Lesser Spotted Eagle spends summer in Belarus

From: <WWGBP@aol.com>
Date: 2011/8/18
Subject: [raptor-conservation] Two year-old German Lesser Spotted Eagle spends summer in Belarus [1 Attachment]
To: raptor-conservation@yahoogroups.com

Dear colleagues,

For the first time it has been possible to permanently track a young (unmanaged) LSE for two years which I had fitted with a satellite-transmitter as a nestling . This bird was marked in a nest in northern Germany in 2009. Last summer it stayed in Bulgaria, this year it is in Belarus.

Thanks to the great help of colleagues from BirdLife Belarus it has now been possible to observe and photograph this bird in the field. In contrary to my expectations it is not part of a flock of young birds. I had observed such a flock in Bulgaria some years ago. It was only observed together with one more LSE of unknown age which may have been an adult. The bird is apparently in good health and is quite shy.

The spending of the summer in areas far away from the place of birth in Germany explanes why there are almost no observations of young LSEs in Germany.

Another one-year-old bird from Germany flew to Lithuania this summer.

We still know very litte about the long phase of LSEs from becoming independant until breeding as adult birds. Therefore we hope very much that it will be possible to track thess birds for some more years.

I attach some maps as well as photos from Belarus. Below is a copy of the report from Belarus.

Kind regards,

Bernd Meyburg
BUMeyburg@aol.com
www.Raptor-Research.de

Dear Bernd,

here is the report from people who visited the site: Viacheslav Kravchuk and Anton Kuzmitsky, scientists from national park "Belavezhskaja pushcha".

The provided locations pointed at wind protection forest lines with birch and poplar among agricultural fields. The nearby field are hayfields on drained peat soils and mown grain fields, with a network of drainage canals (good hunting grounds).

When we arrived at the site, there were 5 birds soaring in the air: 4 common buzzards and one lesser spotted eagle with a transmitter. The buzzards were attacking the LSE in turns. Later the LSE landed at a dry tree, but didn’t allow us to approach it closer than 100 meters. Some time later it was soaring together with another LSE (without transmitter), and then they separated. At the time of observations, the LSE's were flying maximum to 2-3 km away from the location. Visually, the birds were in good condition.

Other birds observed at site: 6 buzzards, pair of marsh harriers feeding fledglings.

They could not tell the age of the second LSE due poor light conditions and lack of experience. Pictures from the place are attached. Please let me know if further information is needed.

Best wishes,
Vikatr