Saker Falcon breeding results (2014)
In cooperation with colleagues working for state nature conservation, we have been monitoring the occupancy of Saker Falcon eyries in Hungary in the frame of partly the after LIFE activities of LIFE06 NAT/HU/000096 „Conservation of Falco cherrug in the Carpathian basin”, partly the LIFE09 NAT/H/000384 „Conservation of Falco cherrug in NE Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia” projects.
We expect to fledge about 400 juveniles on country level and we ringed 233 nestlings.
The dry spring this year was favourable for the breeding of Saker Falcons, there were 4-5 chicks in a number of nests.
The average breeding success was 3,1 chick/nest, which is better than usual. However those data are not final, as some late breeding are still to be monitored.
We have installed 11 camera traps to nests for analysing diet composition. We focused this work on the nests of satellite-tracked birds. Three juveniles were tagged with satellite-tracking device.
Employees of MAVIR significantly contributed to the nest monitoring, which we thank them very much.
János Bagyura
Saker Falcon Conservation Working Group
