News from Bosphorus 8

In the last three days thousands of raptors and hundreds of storks were observed here at Toygar Tepe. Among them some rare species: a Red Kite, a male Pallid Harrier, a juvenile White Tailed Eagle and a juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle. Moreover a flock of about 20 Common Crossbills.

News from Bosphorus 7

In the end there has been the peak of the Lesser-spotted Eagle migration at Bosphorus. Today about 6000 eagles have been observed from the Toygar Tepe watchpoint, mostly flying over the hills in front of the Black Sea.

News from Bosphorus 6

Today was an impressive migration day thank to the passage of about 2500 raptors (mostly Lesser-spotted Eagles) and more than 200 Black Storks. The sky was covered by clouds and a strong wind blew from North East.

Dardanelles Autumn 7

Today about 250 Red-footed Falcons were observed migrating through the Gallipoli Peninsula. They passed in flocks flying high over our watchpoint.

Satellite tracking of Short-toed Snake Eagles from Southern Italy to Africa

Ugo Mellone together with the University of Alicante (Spain) and the Faunistic Observatory of Basilicata Region is studying the migration of Short-toed Snake Eagles. In particular he is tracking with GPS Satellite transmitters two juveniles fledged in Gallipoli Cognato Piccole Dolomiti Lucane Regional Park. One of the two eagles started the migration today and up to now it's going towards the North. To follow their movements click on the picture below.

News from Bosphorus 5

Like in Marettimo, also here in Turkey we took pictures of an adult and a juvenile Egyptian Vultures migrating together.

In Autumn 1966 Porter and Willis counted 367 Egyptian Vultures but now the individuals observed migrating through the Bosphorus are much less. This is a signal of a dramatic decline of this species in Europe.

News from Bosphorus 4

Yesterday was a really good day for migration here at Bosphorus (but also the day before yesterday and today...) and we observed also a rare species, a juvenile White Tailed Eagle.

Egyptian Vultures over Marettimo

Here below, some pictures taken on the 4th September by Giuseppe Speranza. These migrating Egyptian Vultures were observed passing over the island of Marettimo (Western Sicily), that is an important site for the migration of this endangered species. In the past years we counted up to 74 individuals between the end of August and the first half of September.

Dardanelles Autumn 6

Few migrating raptors at Dardanelles in these days but a lot of Bee Eaters. Yesterday the peak with more than 500 individuals.

News from Bosphorus 3

Today was the first day with an intense passage of Lesser-spotted Eagles. About 700 migrated over Toygar Tepe and some hundreds were observed also from the Kuçuk çamlica.

News from Bosphorus 2

Today here at Bosphorus we recorded a passage of some tens of Booted Eagles, mostly adults . They migrated in small flocks and they passed high over the watchpoint.

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Dardanelles Autumn 5

Not only raptors migrate at Dardanelles. Spoonbills and Shags passed over the watchpoint and a huge flock (several hundreds!!!) of White Storks is roosting at Kavak Delta.

Dardanelles Autumn 4

Yesterday and today migrated through the Strait of Dardanelles about 140 raptors most of them were Honey Buzzards (with a lot of juveniles) but also Marsh and Montagu's Harriers, Booted Eagles, Lesser-spotted Eagles, Common Buzzards and Black Kites.

News from Bosphorus

Today at Toygar Tepe we observed 100 migrating eagles. Lesser-spotted Eagles, Booted Eagles, Short-toed Snake Eagles, one Greater-spotted Eagle and one juvenile Imperial Eagle.

Dardanelles Autumn 3

At last one good day of migration here at Dardanelles thank to the passage of about 250 Honey Buzzards.

Fortunately we have a new MEDRAPTORS member. In the picture below you can see him looking for raptors at the watchpoint.

Dardanelles Autumn 2

Few migrating raptors at Dardanelles but every day something interesting like the flock of pelicans passed today or the Imperial Eagle often observed hunting.