Dispersal and mortality of Eastern Imperial eagles from Bulgaria

Dispersal and mortality of Eastern Imperial eagles from Bulgaria Stoycho Stoychev, Dimitar Demerdzhiev, Svetoslav Spasov, Dobromir Dobrev, Bernd Meyburg , Georgi Popgeorgiev

Photo: Oguz Altun

Main goals of our research: •

To Identify and prioritized threats to the Bulgarian population of Eastern Imperial eagle (29 pairs):

• To identified dispersal and migration pattern of immature Imperial eagles from Bulgarian population •

To identify wintering grounds of juvenile and immature eagles

• To identify key temporary settlement areas •

To justify and encourage application of further conservation activities

23 juvenile eagles have been tagged in the period 2008-2013 in Bulgaria and 2 in the European part of Turkey

70 gram Argos GPS transmitters of Microwave have been used

Large data set obtained – over 42000 GPS coordinates

Wintering sites identified GPS locations from January of the Imperial eagles from Bulgaria during their first winter

Back to Bulgaria in the first summer and exploratory flights to the North - spending more time in temporary areas in the Eastern Balkans and close to the natal areas GPS locations from June of second calendar eagles

Second winter wintering sites – some of eagles remain in Bulgaria while others went back to their first wintering sites GPS locations from January of the eagles during their second winter.

Second summer temporary settlements areas in Bulgaria and Romania.

GPS locations from June of third calendar year Imperial eagles

Locations of dead Juvenile Imperial eagles studied by satellite telemetry, n=16

Mortality causes of 16 satellite tracked Imperial eagles

Mortality causes of all 37 Imperial eagles from Bulgarian population found in the period 20082018

Mortality locations by countries

Conservation implications for the Bulgarian population Immature imperial eagles spend significant part of their life time outside Bulgaria and European Union Main threat is electrocution Priority country for conservation efforts is Turkey

Follow up LIFE + project focused on electrocution was developed by grid operator EVN and BSPB/BirdLife Bulgaria in 2012 Over 2700 poles were insulated 45 km electricity lines are berried underground 15 km dangerous lines were replaced by insulated cables

Acknowledgment BSPB/BirdLife in Bulgaria appreciates the support of various organization and individuals for implementing Imperia eagle satellite tracking program: LIFE program of the European Union Bulgaria –Turkey Cross-border cooperation program RSPB – BirdLife in UK MME -BirdLife in Hungary DD - BirdLife in Turkey Dimitris Vasilakis – WWF Greece Richard Cuthbert - RSPB Guy Anderson – RSPB Steffen Oppel - RSPB

Thank you for your attention!