Population surveys of Eastern Imperial Eagles in Anatolia between 2009 and 2013

Population surveys of Eastern Imperial Eagles in Anatolia between 2009 and 2013

Márton Horváth, István Béres, Tibor Juhász, András Kleszó, András Kovács and Jose Tavares 7th International Conference on the Conservation of the Eastern Imperial Eagle, 3 October 2013, Bratislava, Slovakia

Background • 2006: – status of imperial eagle is unkown in Turkey – active breeding site is not known – older data on 5-10 probable territorries

• 2007: – MME and BSPB expeditions: eagles are observed in 7 territorries (5 new)

• 2009-2013: – MME contracted by RSPB and Doga Dernegi (voluntary work, fuel costs reimburshed) – Final report by Dec 2013: data not analysed yet!

Methods • Systematic expeditions twice a year (all together 10) • March-April: searching active nest sites, checking incubation • June-July: checking breeding success • Usually 1 car with 4 people (all together 18 people) • 4-10 days (all together 60 days)

• Bolu, Eskisehir, Ankara, Corum and Cankiri admin. regions • Surveys covered probably 30-60% of their population • < 10% of potential habitats in Turkey

â&#x20AC;˘ Up to 100 nests have been found in 45 territorries â&#x20AC;˘ All tracklogs and data stored in GIS in the field

Bolu

â&#x20AC;˘ Most precisely surveyed â&#x20AC;˘ 25 territorries have been located

Bolu

Territory system

Nearest neighbour distance (4.9 km)

Height above sea level (1000 m)

Nesting trees

Species Reptilia Reptilia indet.

Aves Anas platyrhynchos domestica Ardea cinerea Ciconia ciconia Columba livia f. domestica Columba sp.

Corvus corax Falco peregrinus Gallus gallus domesticus Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo Phasianus colchicus Turdus philomelos Mammalia Cricetulus migratorius Erinaceus sp.

Lepus europaeus Nannospalax (superspecies xanthodon) Vormela peregusna

Bolu 1 (9%) 1 (9%) 10 (91%) 1 (9%)

8 (73%) 1 (9%)

0

Gerede 0 0 21 (57%) 1 (3%) 2 (5%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 9 (24%) 1 (3%) 2 (5%) 1 (3%) 16 (43%) 2 (5%) 4 (11%) 2 (5%) 7 (19%) 1 (3%)

All 1 (2%) 1 (2%) 31 (65%) 2 (4%) 2 (4%) 1 (2%) 1 (2%) 1 (2%) 1 (2%) 1 (2%) 17 (35%) 2 (4%) 2 (4%) 1 (2%) 16 (33%) 2 (4%) 4 (8%) 2 (4%) 7 (15%) 1 (2%)

Eskisehir

â&#x20AC;˘ Found with the help of Bulgarian satellite tagged birds â&#x20AC;˘ 15 territorries

Eskisehir

Eskisehir

Female IE paired with a male Steppe Eagle!

Ankara

â&#x20AC;˘ 1-2 IE territorries â&#x20AC;˘ 2-3 Golden Eagle territorries

Ankara

Corum

â&#x20AC;˘ 4 nests found on poplars â&#x20AC;˘ Rubbish dump has important role

Corum

Corum

Cankiri

â&#x20AC;˘ 5 nests found on poplars â&#x20AC;˘ Low density

Cankiri

Cankiri

Conclusions • Surveys covered a very small fraction of the potential habitats of Turkey • Most probably the 3rd largest population in the world (after Russia and Kazakhstan) • Threats not known (shooting, electrocution and habitat destruction are definately huge problems!)

• No local organization who can carry on the monitoring work • No conservation efforts at all • Networking and capacity building is urgently needed!

Acknowledgement • Participants: István Béres, Attila Bereczky, Dobromir Dovbrev, Szabolcs Farkas, Márton Horváth, Tibor Juhász, Róbert Kazi, Antal Klébert, András Kleszó, András Kovács, László Kozma, László Losonczi, Bertalan Majercsák, Gábor Papp, László Pénzes, Nándor Seres, Balázs Szelényi, Tamás Szitta, Jose Tavares

• BSPB Save the Raptors LIFE project • RSPB and Doga Dernegi

Thank you for your attention!