Electrocuted Sakers

Another Saker has been electrocuted a few days ago, this time in Turkey. The victim is a satellite-tracked 1cy Crimean Saker. It has been the fifth satellite-tracked Saker killed by electrocution since 2007. By summarising the data, it can be seen that electrocution has a significant impact on the Saker population.

In the frame of various programmes (but mainly the LIFE projects), 71 Sakers were tagged with satellite-received transmitters in Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Romania and Ukraine. Eight of them were adults, the rest were juveniles. Except of the Austrian birds and a juvenile female Dóra, in Hungary, all of the birds were hatched and fledged in the wild. (Dóra’s parents were injured Sakers living in captivity and she was put to a natural brood in 2007. She fledged successfully and she has already raised her own chicks since then. In Austria it was easier to hack captive-bred Sakers near wild Sakers because of administrative difficulties.)

Five out of 71 Sakers were certainly electrocuted (remains have been found):

  • 1 adult (3cy+) male in Hungary (2009-2010 winter, near Tököl);
  • 1 immature (2cy) female in Hungary (2010 August, near Törökszentmiklós – the pylon was insulated right after removing the carcass, there were dozens of other carcasses under it);
  • 1 juvenile (1cy) male in Russia (2008 September);
  • 1 juvenile (1cy) female of Slovak origin in the Czech Republic (2011 August);
  • 1 juvenile (1cy) male of Ukrainian origin in Turkey (2011 September).

The five electrocuted Sakers represent 7% of the tagged birds. Three out of five Sakers – 4,7% of the fledged juveniles – were electrocuted within four months after fledging. If we assume that 50% of the juveniles survive to 2cy, then it means that about 10% of the perished juveniles are killed by electrocution. Only proven cases have been considered for the calculation so the real numbers are certainly higher.
 

Electrocuted Saker / Hungary, Törökszentmiklós - August 2010 (Photo: János Bagyura)

Electrocuted Saker / Hungary, Törökszentmiklós - August 2010 (Photo: János Bagyura)

 

Other species are similarly heavily affected by the international problem of electrocution. As one step toward the solution Budapest Declaration was proved in the frame of an international conference organized by BirdLife Hungary. In Slovakia all of the electricity generating companies (ZSE, a.s., VSE, a.s., SSE, a.s.) are nowadays actively participating on ecologisation of dangerous 22 kV power lines. The companies cooperate with conservationists by solving of the problem. Hopefully, the efficient actions and results will come soon and the problem threatening birds including Sakers will be gradually ceased.

Electrocuted Saker / Russia - September 2008 (Photo: Igor Karyakin)

Electrocuted Saker / Russia - September 2008 (Photo: Igor Karyakin)

Electrocuted Saker / Turkey - September 2011 (Photo: Musa Celik)

Electrocuted Saker / Turkey - September 2011 (Photo: Musa Celik)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .