Hawk Conservancy Trust newsletter Winter 20 Issue 86

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HAWKTALK WINTER 2020 ISSUE 86

What we’ve been reading

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Can you work out which birds of prey these fiendish clues are about and find their name in our wordsearch? 1. I am the fastest bird of prey on the planet 2. When I call, it sounds like T’witt-t’woo 3. I am white and black, and live in the Arctic tundra 4. I live in the UK and am well-known for the fork in my tail 5. I am the tallest bird of prey in the world and have very long eyelashes 6. You may sometimes see me hovering along road sides and in the countryside 7. I am a small vulture and I blush when I’m excited 8. I am the national emblem of the USA 9. When I am young, I have a blue face and dark brown feathers. Once I am an adult I have a yellow face and white feathers 10. I am an owl that lives underground can you guess? Here are some close up photos of birds of prey. Can you guess which birds they are?

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Vulture Specialist Group Newsletter Every six months, the Vulture Specialist Groups provide updates on all the latest developments in vulture conservation across the globe. This issue reported: • The disastrous poisoning events in Guinea-Bissau this year which killed over 2,000 vultures; the motivation is thought to be belief-based. A major source of demand for vulture parts comes from Nigeria, and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation is working with traditional healers to help stem this demand. • Tracking of tagged vultures continues in parts of East Africa, and southern Africa, and surveys were completed in a number of countries with important vulture populations, including our work in Kruger National Park, South Africa. • The first release of tagged Asian White-backed Vultures in India went ahead, and recently released birds in Nepal began to disperse more widely. • In Europe, despite lockdowns, 22 Bearded Vultures were released this spring; all birds are doing well so far. Not forgetting the appearance of a Bearded Vulture in the UK, attracting the attention of birders across the country! • 93 organisations from 32 countries, across five continents, celebrated International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) this year. India had the highest number of events, and were especially impressive in delivering online events. Read this and other issues here: https://www.iucnvsg.org/vsg-roundup A review of raptor persecution on grouse moors A recent review by renowned ornithologist, Professor Ian Newton FRS, in the scientific journal IBIS summarised ‘the evidence for the recent scale of illegal raptor killing on grouse moors and its effect on populations’. In response to a reduction in killing and destruction of nests, and improved regulation of organochlorine pesticides, many bird of prey populations have increased since the 1970s. Some species, however, such as the Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon and Hen Harrier, have shown population declines on and around grouse moors. The evidence for this comes from lower breeding densities and fewer nests on suitable habitat on grouse moors; reduced nesting success; reduced adult survival when compared with other areas; birds breeding at a younger age for the first time; and discoveries of poisoned, shot and trapped carcasses of raptors. Raptor persecution is the biggest issue dividing grouse moor managers and conservation organisations. As Professor Newton concludes in the paper, ‘only dialogue, mutual understanding and compromise are likely to lessen this conflict’. Read the paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ibi.12886

Bearded Vulture

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Genetic analyses reveal the origins and sex of our Bearded Vulture visitor There has been a lot of speculation about ‘Vigo’ the Bearded Vulture that turned up in the UK a few months ago. Two small feathers collected by a Yorkshire-based birder in the Peak District were analysed by the Vulture Conservation Foundation. The analysis confirmed that the bird is female, and she hatched in 2019 in the French Alps. Vigo was first seen in the West Midlands. She then took a whistle-stop tour of the UK, spending time in the Peak District, Oxfordshire, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire before heading further south towards East Sussex where she was last seen flying out over the Channel back towards France. How Striated Caracara activity levels change with the seasons This paper is part of the fascinating work by Katie Harrington that we helped to support through our Marion Paviour Award. Katie was the award recipient in 2018, for her work with Striated Caracaras on the Falkland Islands. Here, using special data loggers attached to the birds, the behaviour of Striated Caracaras was investigated in response to seasonal changes in the availability of their main prey, seabirds. Katie and the team found that caracaras’ daily activity and body mass did not tend to vary between seasons, which suggests that they are finding enough food, even when their usual seabird prey have migrated away. Striated Caracaras are opportunistic scavengers, and the scientists investigating this think that the reason for this is that food sources on nearby farm settlements help supplement their diet during this time. We are extremely pleased to have helped fund this work, and Katie, with whom we hope to work again in the future! Read the paper: https://animalbiotelemetry.biomedcentral. com/articles/10.1186/s40317-020-00214-y

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colour me bald

Katie deploying data loggers with a Saunders Island landowner

Answers

can you guess?: 1. Steller’s Sea-Eagle, 2. African Hawk-Eagle, 3. Great

Grey Owl

6. Kestrel, 7. Hooded Vulture, 8. Bald Eagle, 9. Egyptian Vulture, 10. Burrowing Owl

wordsearch: 1. Peregrine Falcon, 2. Tawny Owl, 3. Snowy Owl, 4. Red Kite, 5. Secretary Bird,