Eagle eye on the Bonelli
SPECTACULAR pictures by local photographers are helping to raise awareness of one of the island’s noblest avian residents, the Bonelli’s eagle, as promising news emerges of hitherto unknown nests in North Cyprus.
Bonelli’s eagle expert and North Cyprus Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature (Kuşkor) biologist Damla Beton Snape said Cyprus was seen as a key site for the birds, and recorded numbers were on the rise.
There are now believed to be more than 10 breeding pairs in the TRNC and probably 40 to 50 on the island as a whole.
“We don’t want to be too optimistic, as many threats remain, nor to reveal their whereabouts,” said Mrs Beton Snape.
“Our evidence shows that nest failures are linked to illegal hunting and poisoning and that Aquila fasciata are nesting in mountainous areas from the Karpaz to Koruçam.
“They are now preparing their nests and will breed from February, producing one or two, rarely three, eggs for incubation in March, with fledging from May or June. We observe them every year and notice that in hunting areas they tend to delay nesting by around one week until hunting stops.
“Studies began in 2010 including autopsies to find the cause of death and I am now working on our latest report.”
The agile and mostly silent hunter, whose wings span 150-180cm, weighs in at between 1.6 and 2.4 kilos, and preys on small mammals, reptiles, pigeon and game birds.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Bonelli’s eagle populations have declined drastically throughout its range.
European population size, currently stable at an estimated 1,200 pairs despite a past decrease rate approaching 30 per cent over three generations, means it is classed as a species of least concern due to its immense range.
The imposing raptors are estimated to number 24,000 globally over 20,000km2 with a breeding area from Spain and the Sahara across southern Asia to Indonesia.
The IUCN advise access restriction and legal habitat protection in nesting areas, pastoral farming and hedge preservation and more research and monitoring especially in eastern Mediterranean countries and Portugal.
The experts say that adult birds are dying from pesticides and agricultural expansion, lack of prey, hunter and pigeon fancier persecution and collisions with high voltage electricity lines, while nest poaching and human disturbance also play a role.
Mrs Beton Snape said: “As in Sicily, it seems that island populations have the advantage as they have no major predators.
“These populations can bridge decreasing European populations in Spain, their stronghold with around 1,000 pairs, and in France with just an estimated 29 pairs, with populations across Asia. We are rated the fourth most important site in Europe.”