Untimely Honey Buzzard

Three days ago, the 20th February, a single Honey Buzzard (an adult female) was observed migrating along the south-eastern coast of Sicily close to the town of Siracusa. For Giuseppe Lucia, who is in Sicily studying birds on agricultural fields, it was unbelievable to see an Honey Buzzard moving toward north so early...

New paper on raptor migration in Greece out now!

The results of a research on raptor migration in northeastern Greece has been published on the Journal of Natural History. Data were collected in one of the most important sites for raptors of Southern Europe: Dadia National Park close to the border with Turkey along the valley of Evros river. Lots of research has been carried on there already on the local community of birds of prey, but this is the first migration paper. It reports interesting information on numbers and proportions of species, on species migration phenology, on local migration hotspots and on the movements of birds of prey through this area discussing the results also in relation to Medraptors research. What is peculiar is that the paper deals with spring migration, which is not well covered in litearture compared with the  research about  autumn migration. To read it click on the link below.

• Schindler S., Poirazidis K., Ruiz C., Scandolara C., Cárcamo B., Eastham C. & Catsadorakis G. 2014. At the crossroads from Asia to Europe: spring migration of raptors and black storks in Dadia National Park (Greece). Journal of Natural History dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.836760.

Proceedings of the XIV Italian Congress of Ornithology

The proceedings of the XIV Italian Congress of Ornithology are now available on the "Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia". Among them there are two contributions by Medraptors and you can download them (in Italian, with English abstract) at the following links:

• Panuccio M., Agostini N., Mellone U., Lucia G., Booth J.A., Wilson S., Chiatante G. & Todisco S. 2012. Le Serre Catanzaresi: Important Bird Area (IBA) per la migrazione autunnale dei rapaci. In: Benussi E. & Perco F. (eds). Atti del XIV Convegno Italiano di Ornitologia. Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia 82: 239-241.

• Mellone U., Agostini N., Panuccio M. & Gustin M. 2012. La migrazione primaverile dei rapaci Accipitriformi attraverso le isole Eolie: primi dati. In: Benussi E. & Perco F. (eds). Atti del XIV Convegno Italiano di Ornitologia. Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia 82: 235-237.

Bonelli's Eagle: surveillance camps in Sicily

Also this year we invite all of you to support and participate at the surveillance camps in Sicily organized by the Network for the Conservation of Sicilian Raptors (Coordinamento Tutela Rapaci Sicilia). In 2013 it was possible to verify the fledglings of 28 young Bonelli's Eagles and thanks to the monitoring activity, the forest police have found one of the two chicks (the other one has died) that had been stolen in a nest. That young eagle was given back to the wild. Unfortunately there is the risk that other chicks could be stolen in the upcoming spring. For this reason we need the help of all of you. If you would like to partecipate at the surveillance camps write to us: medraptors@raptormigration.org

Happy New Year

Dear friends and colleagues,

we are entering in the new year that is also the 10th year of Medraptors life. We take this opportunity to wish you a happy 2014. With the invitation to go on working for the knowledge and the conservation of raptors and biodiversity (in spite of all the difficulties…).

Seminar of raptor migration - University of Florence

Next week, on thursday the 12th, a seminar on raptor migration will be held at the University of Florence. Michele Panuccio from Medraptors will keep a presentation about research techniques and will show some case studies of migrating birds of prey.

Here following the alert:

Abstracts from the XVII Italian Congress of Ornithology

The abstract book of the latest Italian Congress of Ornithology that it was held in Trento last September is avaliable for download at the following link:

XVII Italian Congress of Ornithology - Programme & Abstracts 

Among the different interesting contributions (almost in Italian) there are four made by Medraptors members (here following the links to download them individually):

• Panuccio M., Agostini N., Lucia P., Chiatante G. & Mellone U. 2013. Priorità di monitoraggio e conservazione per i rapaci migratori in Italia [Monitoring and conservation priorities for migrating raptors in Italy]. Proceedings of the XVII Italian Ornithological Congress: 37, Trento, September 2013.

• Santini M., Catoni C., Panuccio M., Massa B. & Dell'Omo G. 2013. L'uso del radar per lo studio del comportamento negli uccell [Radar applications to study bird behaviour]. Proceedings of the XVII Italian Ornithological Congress: 52, Trento September 2013.

• Mellone U., Limiñana R., López-López P., Lucia G., Mallia E., Romero M. & Urios V. 2013. Tra Europa e Africa: i movimenti di falco della Regina Falco eleonorae, grillaio Falco naumanni e biancone Circaetus gallicus rivelati dalla telemetria satellitare [Between Europe and Africa: movements of Eleonora's Falcon, Lesser Kestrel and Short-toed Snake Eagle as revealed by satellite telemetry]. Proceedings of the XVII Italian Ornithological Congress: 142-143, Trento, September 2013.

• Trotta M., Panuccio M. & Dell'Omo G. 2013. La dieta del gheppio Falco tinnunculus nidificante in un paesaggio agricolo dell'Italia centrale [The diet of kestrel breeding in an agricultural landscape of Central Italy]. Proceedings of the XVII Italian Ornithological Congress: 142-143, Trento, September 2013.