Falco cherrug

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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First steps taken to rehabilitate a juvenile Saker Falcon

The bird kept at the Mureș Floodplain Natural Park office
Photo: Herlo Gabriel, biologist at Mureș Floodplain Natural Park
In the past days members of Milvus Group and employees of the Saker Falcon conservation project were contacted by employees of the Mureș Floodplain Natural Park because of a Saker Falcon they had at their office. After members of Milvus Group arrived to the office of the Natural Park they realized that the bird is a juvenile male Saker Falcon, which was found 3 weeks ago by a person on a field near Arad, as told by the employees of the Natural Park. The person realized that this was an injured raptor and took it to a small animal clinic. The bird underwent a routine medical examination but had no injuries or fractures. However it doesn’t show any signs of being capable to fly. At the moment the bird is on its way to the Rehabilitation Centre of Milvus Group from Tîrgu-Mureș, where it will be examined again and treated adequately until complete recovery. Hopefully we are only dealing with a weaken bird, as it happens sometimes when they do not eat normally for a couple of days. (more…)

Continue ReadingFirst steps taken to rehabilitate a juvenile Saker Falcon

Breeding Sakers

After the promising results the Milvus Group’s employees got earlier in the spring seeking for Sakers in Dobrudja (Romania), they decided to continue the search. The purpose of the quest was to identify unknown Saker pairs and thus optimal quality habitats for this species. Several artificial nests are going to be mounted on high voltage powertowers in the very near future and the more nests installed in places where Sakers occur, the better chances to be occupied by falcons. The lack of appropriate nests is one of the most important issues to resolve in order to ensure a stabile Saker population in Romania.

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