Nest-site Attendance of the Resident White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Outside the Breeding Season

Abstract

The territorial pairs of White-tailed Sea Eagle are mainly sedentary and highly faithful to breeding territories and nest-sites. Due to a dramatic population decrease, many recent studies deal with the population status and habitat requirements of the species, but contemporary data on the nest-site attendance activity of the recovered population outside the breeding season are scarce. In the present study, we analysed the bonds of resident adult Sea Eagles with their nest-sites outside the breeding season (20 September – 20 February). We found that Sea Eagles actively attend their nest-sites during the non-breeding season, however, nest-site attendance varied between months, but not between years. Besides, almost half of the checked pairs repaired old or built new nests long before incubation, during September–December. We discuss the obtained results in the light of nest-site protection from forestry-related disturbance and propose to extend the protection of Sea Eagle nest-sites from above mentioned dis...