What's next?

While our Greater Spotted Eagles are enjoying the sun in their wintering sites in Greece, Greek ornithologists visit cold and windy Biebrza Valley to talk about the future of Greater Spotted Eagles and other birds of prey migrating through southern Europe.  

Wind, snow and temperatures below zero did not discourage our guests from Greece and Montenegro, who – together with scientists from Belarus, Ukraine and Estonia – came for the final conference of the LIFE project Greater Spotted Eagle – a bird like no other! to listen about the Biebrza population and discuss the future of GSE and other migrating birds of prey.

fot. Paweł Sidło, Polish Birds

On the first day a conference was held in the head office of the Biebrza National Park. We managed to gather around 80 guests representing Polish non-governmental nature organizations, members of State Forest Company as well as local tourist guides and all people interested in the future of Greater Spotted Eagles.The second day was devoted to workshops conducted in the GSE Centre in Goniądz.

This meeting was an opportunity to present what we had achieved in Greater Spotted Eagle conservation in the Biebrza Valley. It was also a chance to work on future actions in regards to species protection for the next few years.

fot. Dawid Kaźmierczak, Polish Birds

1st Session

The conference was opened by Project Partners:  Roman Skąpski (director of the Biebrza National Park), Paweł Sidło (Vice President of the Polish Birds) and Paweł Mirski (Vice President of the Eagle Conservation Committee). Paweł Mirski was also the first to present his summary of the project; its aims, acjievements and scientific data on Greater Spotted Eagles. Adam Bernatowicz (Biebrz National Park) continued with describing hydrological works conducted by the Park. Grzegorz Maciorowski argued that it is necessary to protect the nesting grounds of GSE here, at the Biebrza Valley, in particular:

- to protect the Valley from draining meliorations, from conservation of existing meliorating ditches and creating new ones. The phenomenon is notorious especially in the buffer zone of the Biebrza National Park. Very often, new ditches are broadened illegally without necessary formal permissions.

- to reduce hybridization with Lesser Spotted Eagle by specific utilization of hunting grounds, that is, by sustaining the spring flood, mowing while keeping the open hunting grounds.

-  to continue monitoring of the population and research (including Lesser Spotted Eagle ecology in the Biebrza Valley)

2nd Session

Valery Dombrovsky from Belarus and Siergiey Domashevsky from Ukraine described the situation of GSE in their countries. According to their research, the GSE population is also decreasing due to changes in natural environment caused by human activity. The decrease is most severe in the case of small populations on highly transformed habitats, especially due to drainage works.

Ulo Vali from Estonia presented the hybridisation problem as a serious threat to the European population of Greater Spotted Eagle. He underlined that hybridization is not a new phenomenon, however it has been increasing recently due to the loss of habitats.

3rd Session

Guests from Greece and Montenegro (Antonia Galanaki, Michalis Dretakis, Theodoros Kominos and Alexander Perovic) presented the GSE situation on Balkans, which is a wintering ground for significant part of the Biebrza population. Main threat to GSE in Greece are poisoned carcasses, left by poachers or shepherds. Greater Spotted Eagles (and other birds of prey) use such an opportunity to feed.  Within the year 2013 alone, two Greater Spotted Eagles were found dead in Greece. Alexanadar Perovic admitted that our seminar in Podgorica, which was a result of Bruzda's death was an effective means of raising the awarness in Montenegro.

Action Plan:

1. Submitting of a letter to EC and Greek government, calling for particular efforts in terms of:
- enforcement of a ban to leave poisoned carcasses
- reduction of poaching within protected areas
- controlling of pesticides smuggling, commonly used by poachers to poison the carcasses

2. Cooperating and sharing - informing the Greek scientists of the wintering ground's details which have been gathered from telemetric research conducted by the Eagle Conservation Committee.
3.  Informing the Greek scientists on the biology and conservation of Greater Spotted Eagles in Poland.
4. Broadcasting of the film „Greater Spotted Eagle – a bird like no other” in Greece, in order to publicize the matter.

Media:

TVP Białystok
Radio Białystok

fot. Cezary Werpachowski (BNP)