Pesticides poisoning birds in the Balkans

By Marko Tucakov, Thu, 11/02/2016 - 16:35

You may think that bird species of the Least [conservation] Concern on the European Red List of Birds are not threatened because of the name of the category they are in. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t face serious, often man-made threats to their survival that must be addressed.

The White-tailed Eagle is one such bird. Native to Serbia and its neighbouring East European and Central Asian countries, the Serbian population of the species has been growing: it reached 125 pairs in 2016. The annual growth rate of the species is about 50 birds across Serbia, only five of which reach sexual maturity and reproduce in monogamous couples, according to Serbian researchers. So losing even one bird is a big loss.

Since 2009, 33 White-tailed Eagle carcasses have been found in Serbia. The culprit? In a majority of the cases: pesticide poisoning.

Poison problems

The bodies of most poisoned White-tailed Eagles and other affected species such as theCommon Raven, Common Eurasian Buzzard and Black-billed Magpie were found close to poisoned baits (mainly cattle carcasses intended for predators like Golden Jackals and Red Foxes).

The majority of the cases was recorded around Gornje Podunavlje and Karađorđevo, two nature reserves in the northwest that host a large concentration of White-tailed Eagles – almost 30 breeding pairs and more than 100 individuals in the winter.   

http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/pesticides-poisoning-birds-balkans

Blow for Egyptian vulture conservation as tagged bird is poisoned

Balkan Egyptian vulture conservation

April 2013. In 2012, an Egyptian vulture was found suffering from poisoning. The bird was cared for and recovered, and was fitted with a satellite tag before being released. He had recovered well enough to migrate all the way to Chad where he spent the winter.

In spring of 2013, he returned to the Balkans to breed, but, tragically, he was poisoned once again, and sadly this time he didn't survive. He was found dead in Greece, just 200 kilometres from his breeding grounds in Bulgaria, along with another Egyptian vulture that had also been poisoned, probably when eating a carcass that was laced with poison to kill foxes or wolves.

Heavy blow
This is a heavy blow against the efforts to save this species from extinction in the Balkans and Greece. In one single incident, we have lost 5% of the species breeding population in Greece.

Worryingly, this incident was only discovered as this bird was tagged and his location could be followed practically to the metre on a daily basis. The actual magnitude of the losses - of Egyptian vultures, and of many other endangered wildlife species, from the illegal use of poison is difficult to estimate due to its "silent killer" nature, but examples such as this speak for themselves.

The fight against poison is not an easy one as it involves a wide range of socio-economical parameters and certainly needs the joint efforts of all parties involved (livestock breeders, hunters, etc) with that of the public authorities at the lead. Unfortunately, this is not the case at the moment in Greece, where authorities together with society, seem to be indifferent to the problem.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/egyptian-vulture-conservatoin.html