Question of sensibility

November 12th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments

This text opening La Plume du Circaète n° 6 was written by Bernard Joubert and translated to English by Yves Forget. It can be interesting for Short-toed Eagle watchers and researchers in other countries:

For many of us, a bird of prey is much more than a flying machine.
It is first of all an elegant bird of an absolute beauty. It is the being who breathes, who eats, communicates, moves, suffers, reproduces, interacts, fears. In brief, a being on the whole not so remote from us. If we take a good look at it, we are amazed by the subtlety of the strategies which it shows to continue to live in its environment.

If it is almost impossible for the observer who makes the effort to look at him simply, not to develop a certain shape of empathy (sorry Mister Lorenz!), this one can nevertheless keep a certain distance face to face of its subject of observation, a certain objectivity and so develop a speech which we can qualify as scientific.

For some, however, the bird never becomes a close friend. It is never the young-nervous-male-from-the-rocky-valley or just as well the dark-not-so-wild-female. It still remains an animal, a lower being to whom we are entitled to make everything undergo, in defiance of its identity, of its beauty and - who knows? - of its affectivity. And so much the worse for the sublime wanderer transformed in a bum by a piece of plastic.

And so much the worse for the dreamers, the aesthetes and the other visionaries who have an aggravated sensibility.
They are not serious.

But, this sensibility, isn’t it all the essence of our humanity? And doesn’t it not open the doors of the knowledge as wide as that of professed researches where the identity of the bird is corrupted without the shadow of a scruple?


Video by Vladimir Ivanovskiy

November 9th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments
Short-toed Eagle feeding chick in nest. View it from YouTube
Please view a short clip extracted from a movie taken by Dr. Vladimir Ivanovskiy in 2008 in Vitebsk Region /map/. The subject is Short-toed Eagle feeding chick in nest. The whole video is 27 minutes long in better quality with sound. Download it on the ‘Videos to download’ page.

Photos of Vladimir Ivanovskiy

November 8th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments

This small gallery is compiled from Vladimir Ivanovskiy’s pictures. The photos were taken in Nothern Belarus /map/. Also here you can see Short-toed Eagle chick in the artificial nest built by Dr. Ivanovskiy for them. He is an author of the special method of the building.

Read the rest of this entry »

Short-toed Eagles of Le Massif de la Sainte Baume

October 29th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments

Please download and read a new article of Richard Frèze:

- Richard Frèze, 2008 - Étude de la population de Circaètes sur le massif de la Sainte-Baume et les collines environnantes - Short-toed Eagle. file (Fr).

And also enjoy please some pictures from it:

La Plume du Circaète n° 6

October 12th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments
Light version of the La Plume du Circaète on the LPO website

Current number of the La Plume du Circaète (Fr) can be downloaded now in two variants: of 1.6 Mb - Short-toed Eagle. file or of 5 Mb - Short-toed Eagle. file PDF file. New materials on Short-toed Eagles of France are collected in it. Heartfelt thanks to Renaud Nadal for placing the version with full-sized images on our site.

The list of contents (Fr):

Bilan de la surveillance 2007 2 »
Suivi 2007 2; Synthèse pluriannuelle 2
Observation / Conservation 3 »
Migration en PACA 3; Suivi par balise Argos 4; Nidifi cation aux portes de Marseille 6; Observations en limite d’aire 7; Situation en Loir-et-Cher 7; Les échecs de reproduction 9; 12 ans de suivi dans l’Hérault 10; 15 ans de suivi dans les Cévennes 11; Preuve en photos de la longévité 13; Découvertes récentes 13
Menaces 14 »
Tirs, électrocution et collisions 14
Sensibilisation 15 »
Surprises photographiques 15; Rapaces de France 15; 2nd rencontres Circaètes 16; Rendez-vous ornithologiques 16; Approche artistique 16

Short-toed Eagle near Kiev. August 2008

October 8th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments

This is an adult Short-toed Eagle female. Numerous power lines pylons are situated in its hunting territory. From year to year they are used by both Short-toed Eagles of the pair as a perches for hunt. The birds are not afraid of people much.

These photos were taken at a distance of 8 km from Kiev’s housing estates /map/ on August 24th (© Konstantin Pismennyi).

GREFA news 2008 & Observado.org (Bèta)

October 6th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments
Cría y liberación de águilas culebreras

This is the third time we bring to your attention GREFA and their successes in breeding and following release of Short-toed Eagles.

The second thing is an appearance of the Observado.org website as a global version of Waarneming.nl we told about before. Please take a look at the ‘About this species’ right column menu there.

Circa33 is updated

September 21st, 2008 by Admin / No Comments
Short-toed Eagle. Circaète Jean-le-blanc (Circaetus gallicus) en Gironde

Circa33 des Circaètes en Gironde - Yves Forget’s website about Short-toed Eagles of Gironde /map/, is updated now. New photos by the site author, by Françoise Gérardin and other observers are added and can be viewed right on the front page. If you want to know who made the photo you are viewing, you should just right click on it.

Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna’s videos of 2008

September 10th, 2008 by Admin / 2 Comments
All 'SystemaNaturae Biancone' video results on YouTube

Enjoy new series of Vincenzo Rizzo Pinna’s videos. These clips show moments of Short-toed Eagles’ life during the breeding season of 2008. Like previous ones they are about the Eagles of the Maremma Regional Park /map/. Some of them are made by infrared camera.

Photos of different aged Short-toed Eagle chicks

August 26th, 2008 by Admin / No Comments

Photos of different aged Short-toed Eagle chicks are made by Jean-Pierre Malafosse and are published now by courtesy of the author.

They can be helpful to reseachers for estimated determination of the chicks’ age.