Abstract
There is very little confirmed information on the social organisation of breeding Lesser Spotted Eagle populations, the turnover rate of adults, and their nest-site and partner fidelity. According to established knowledge, however, breeding individuals are territorial and defend at least the immediate vicinity of the nest site against their own species. It has further been thought that females rearing young, as with the females of other raptor species, remain within a radius of only a few kilometres of their eyrie. Using GPS satellite telemetry and DNA microsatellite analysis (DNA STR typing), we were able to disprove this prevailing hypothesis. A satellite-tracked female flew over 50 km away from her eyrie (D) in at least two different directions and visited at least one other occupied eyrie (T). It was also established that at least two strange females arrived at her eyrie, which contained young, from as far away as 57 km, and probably remained there for some considerable time. The pool of alleles represented at the different loci analysed, as well as the distribution of these alleles among the individuals, excludes the possibility that these females could be sisters or even half-sisters. Visits of strange eagles at this eyrie were also confirmed by direct observation. It can therefore be assumed that males only exhibit territorial behaviour towards their own sex and not towards strange females and that females do not exhibit territorial behaviour towards other females; but all these assumptions must be confirmed by further studies. For the first time it could be proved by means of microsatellite analysis that almost all females studied used the same breeding site for 2 consecutive years. The longest established period in which both partners of a pair remained at the same breeding site was 3 consecutive years.
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Acknowledgements
Our thanks go to Dr. Torsten Langgemach of the Staatlichen Vogelschutzwarte des Landesumweltamtes Brandenburg and to Dr. Lothar Wölfel (Landesamt für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Geologie Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) for permission to catch the eagles and fit them with transmitters. As in previous years, the Rostock Zoo (Director Dipl. Agr. Udo Nagel) provided us with an adult White-tailed Eagle as decoy. Joachim Matthes, Hinrich Matthes, Prof. Kai Graszynski, Torsten Blohm and Dr. Günter Heise assisted us in the trapping of the eagles. Paul Sömmer checked many eyries and collected material used here while Carsten Rohde also supported our study in a number of ways. Andreas Hofmann and the Hiddensee Ringing Station (Dr. Ulrich Koeppen) provided us with information on the ringing of one female as a nestling. We thank Ulf Kraatz for his detailed observations from breeding site R and Martin Neubauer from nest site C. Moult feathers for the DNA analysis were provided by Dr. Torsten Langgemach, Prof. Kai Graszynski, Torsten Blohm, Dr. Peter Wernicke and several other ornithologists. We further thank Prof. Ian Newton, Dr. Ülo Väli, Prof. Jörg Böhner, R. D. Chancellor and two unknown referees for helpful comments on the first draft of the manuscript. All research performed on Lesser Spotted Eagles fully complies with both the regional and German law on protected species and protected areas.
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Meyburg, BU., Meyburg, C. & Franck-Neumann, F. Why do female Lesser Spotted Eagles (Aquila pomarina) visit strange nests remote from their own?. J Ornithol 148, 157–166 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-006-0113-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-006-0113-1