Read more about the article Wintering Long-eared Owl census (2013-2014)
Photo: Luca Andrei Dehelean

Wintering Long-eared Owl census (2013-2014)

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Photo: Luca Andrei Dehelean
It is time to announce the beginning of the fifth winter census of the Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) in Romania! Monitoring the wintering places where these birds gather during the cold season is important for a few reasons – to guage the true abundance of birds wintering in these spots, to understand the distributing factors and to discover new places of gathering, of which we were not previously aware. (more…)

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“Milvus” Nature Photography exhibition

1From 16 countries 631 works of 98 photographers were sent to the 5th International “Milvus” Nature Photography Contest. From these photos 48 were selected and exposed on the 16th of November 2013 in the History and Archaeology Museum (inside the Medieval Fortress), Tîrgu Mureș. The following persons delivered speech at the opening: Soós Zoltán director of Mureș County Museum, Papp Tamás president of Milvus Group, Papp Judith contest organizer and Tamás András president of jury. Nagy Zoltán Gergely from Târgu Mureș Milvus won the grand prize, the Milvus Trophy. We gladly invite you to attend the exhibition of the amazing pictures in the following 3 weeks! Looking forward to see you! (more…)

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Is this the end for the Hungarian Meadow Viper?

DSC_3410History has been hard on the Hungarian Meadow Viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis). A subspecies of the grassland dwelling meadow viper (Vipera ursinii), it has been persecuted under the false fear that it may be dangerous, caught and sold as pets and poisoned by agricultural chemicals. Most devastatingly though, this once widespread subspecies has had its habitats increasingly destroyed as changes in land use have seen it’s native grasslands being ploughed for use as arable land, overgrazed and burned, forcing the viper into ever smaller pockets of protected land. (more…)

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The 8th trimonthly report of the Milvus Rehabilitation Centre (July-September 2013)

IMG_5683 Between July and September this year, more birds arrived at the Rehabilitation Centre than in any previous period. Most of the birds were young belonging to species which breed in Romania. These birds don`t have the experience of their parents, thus they are more exposed to natural risks (ex. unfavourable weather conditions for hunting) or anthropogenic dangers (ex. collisions with cars, wires, fences, buildings). 39 people came to us with injured birds they had found in this period. (more…)

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A Year with Transylvania’s Lesser Spotted Eagles

chick 1As autumn rolls around and the Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina) sets off on its yearly migration down to its winter quarters in Central and Southern Africa, we can look back on what has been a successful year for the Life Pomarina Conservation Project. Jointly implemented by Milvus Group, The Environmental Protection Agency Sibiu and the Romanian Ornithological Society, the project aims to ensure conditions to achieve and maintain favorable conservation status for the eagles across three Special Protection Areas (SPA) in Transylvania. Of these sites, Milvus Group is directly responsible for two: Dealurile Târnavelor – Valea Nirajului and Podișul Hârtibaciului. (more…)

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Snapshots of a Romanian Saker Falcon family’s life

Toro, the second Romanian Saker Falcon tagged with satellite transmitter ever
Toro, the second Romanian Saker Falcon tagged with satellite transmitter ever Photo: Luca Dehelean
At the end of May 2013 a Saker Falcon was caught and tagged with satellite transmitter. The data from this Saker’s transmitter named Toro gives information about the way Sakers use their hunting territory, their habitats preference, their various prey sources and the size of a Romanian Saker Falcon breeding territory. Not long before, these information could be gained only through direct observation made by ornithologists standing long hours in a certain place next to the nest, which despite of the huge effort offered only a small amount of the information which modern technology gives us nowadays. (more…)

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