White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus Albicilla Research Articles

Role of three bird species in the life cycle of two Sarcocystis spp. (Apicomplexa, Sarcocystidae) in the Czech Republic.

Birds are one of the groups involved in the development of Sarcocystis Lankester (1882), serving either as intermediate or definitive hosts. The white-tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758), red kite Milvus milvus (Linnaeus, 1758) (both Accipitriformes) and common starlings Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 (Passeriformes) were examined to elucidate their participation in the development of Sarcocystis, as well as to determine the specific identity of the parasites based on morphological and especially molecular analyses. In 2020–2021, one white-tailed eagle, one red kite and five common starlings were parasitologically examined for the presence of Sarcocystis using flotation centrifugation coprological method and by wet mounts of intestinal mucosa scrapings and/or muscle samples. Positive samples were processed by light microscopy, histologically and followed molecularly at four genetic markers (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS1 and cox1). The white-tailed eagle harboured oocysts/sporocysts of S. arctica Gjerde et Schulze, 2014 in the intestinal mucosa, while the intestinal mucosa of the red kite and breasts and leg muscles of one common starling were positive to S. halieti Gjerde, Vikøren et Hamnes, 2018. Sequences from eagle shared 99.6–100% identity with each other and S. arctica in the red fox (V. vulpes Linnaeus, 1758) from the Czech Republic. Sequences from the common starling and red kite shared 100% identity with each other and with S. halieti in the great cormorant (P. carbo [Linnaeus, 1758]) from Lithuania and H. albicilla from Norway. The white-tailed sea eagle might act as definitive host of S. arctica, whereas the common starling and red kite represent intermediate and potential definitive hosts, respectively, for S. halieti.

THE ROLE OF SPECIAL PROTECTED AREAS OF THE MURMANSK PART OF THE GREEN BELT OF FENNOSCANDIA IN THE DIVERSITY CONSERVATION OF RARE BIRD SPECIES

The contribution of the existing and planned protected areas of the Murmansk part of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia to the conservation of the populations of bird species listed in the Red Data Books of the Russian Federation and the Murmansk Region is analyzed. The history of studies of the avifauna of each protected area is considered. The areas best studied by ornithologists (Ainovy Islands of Kandalakshsky Strict Nature Reserve (zapovednik), Pasvik Strict Nature Reserve, Kaita Regional Nature Reserve (zakaznik), planned zakazniks - Pazovsky and Vuorjema) and the least studied ones (Laplandsky Les, Kutsa regional zakaznik, planned Ionn-N'yugoajv, Spruce Forests of Alla-Akkajarvi zaka-zniks. and others) have been identified. The avifauna of the study area totals 256 species, including 35 red-listed species. It is demonstrated that the protected areas do preserve a high biodiversity of birds and maintain their populations. The best performance is observed for the Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus, Smew Mergellus albellus, White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, Kestrel Falco tinnunculus, Common Crane Grus grus, Dipper Cinclus cinclus and Great Gray Shrike Lanius excubitor. However, for some protected areas of regional status, knowledge gaps need to be filled through implementation of special biodiversity monitoring programs, research on the state of habitats of rare bird species, and assessment of their numbers.

Monitoring contaminants, emerging infectious diseases and environmental change with raptors, and links to human health

ABSTRACTCapsule: Raptor research and monitoring informs issues of relevance to human health, including environmental contamination, emerging infectious diseases and environmental change.Aims: The paper examines the relevance of raptor research and monitoring to inform issues of relevance to human health, including environmental contamination, emerging vector-borne diseases and environmental change.Methods: Reviews of European Union policy context and role of raptor research and monitoring in detection of and response to contaminants. Examples include lead ammunition in White-tailed Sea Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla in Europe, and impacts of diclofenac on Gyps vultures in the Indian subcontinent. Comments on the relevance of raptor research and monitoring to emerging infectious diseases and environmental change, and considers the links between raptors and humans.Results: Biomonitoring of contaminants in raptors can perform useful purposes in relation to chemicals legislation. Raptors are useful sentinels of exposure to and effects of chemicals in the environment. Raptor research and monitoring can also elucidate environmental change and spread of emerging infectious diseases. Raptors are linked to humans through social, cultural and economic values.Conclusion: Raptors can be used to provide information relevant to human health and well-being. There are a number of challenges and opportunities in relating raptor research and monitoring to human health. Several areas with potential for development are outlined. The COST Action ‘European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility’ and the forthcoming LIFE APEX project will take forward relevant work.

Antiparasite treatments reduce humoral immunity and impact oxidative status in raptor nestlings

Parasites are natural stressors that may have multiple negative effects on their host as they usurp energy and nutrients and may lead to costly immune responses that may cause oxidative stress. At early stages, animals may be more sensitive to infectious organisms because of their rapid growth and partly immature immune system. The objective of this study was to explore effects of parasites by treating chicks of two raptor species (northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis and white-tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla) against both endoparasites (internal parasites) and ectoparasites (external parasites). Nests were either treated against ectoparasites by spraying with pyrethrin or left unsprayed as control nests. Within each nest, chicks were randomly orally treated with either an antihelminthic medication (fenbendazole) or sterile water as control treatment. We investigated treatment effects on plasma (1) total antioxidant capacity TAC (an index of nonenzymatic circulating antioxidant defenses), (2) total oxidant status TOS (a measure of plasmatic oxidants), and (3) immunoglobulin levels (a measure of humoral immune function). Treatment against ectoparasites led to a reduction in circulating immunoglobulin plasma levels in male chicks. TOS was higher when not receiving any parasite reduction treatment and when receiving both endo- and ectoparasitic reduction treatment compared with receiving only one treatment. TAC was higher in all treatment groups, when compared to controls. Despite the relatively low sample size, this experimental study suggests complex but similar relationships between treatment groups and oxidative status and immunoglobulin levels in two raptor species.

Genetic structure and phylogeography of a European flagship species, the white‐tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla

We analysed 120 white‐tailed sea eagles Haliaeetus albicilla from eastern (Poland and Estonia) and southeastern (Serbian Danube population) Europe for genetic variability and structuring at the mitochondrial control region and seven nuclear microsatellite loci. We combined this new dataset with sequence and genotype data from previous analyses covering Greenland and Eurasia (total sample sizes of 420 and 186 individuals for mtDNA and microsatellites, respectively) to address the following questions: 1) does the large eastern population in Europe add significantly to the species‘ overall genetic diversity? 2) Do the new sequence data match the clinal distribution pattern (west to east) of the two major mtDNA lineages? 3) Does the preliminary hypothesis of two nuclear genetic clusters recently found in this species hold for the whole of Europe, and do these clusters show a geographic pattern? Our results confirmed Europe as a stronghold of genetic diversity in white‐tailed sea eagles, and the east of the continent contributed disproportionately to this, the reason being the admixture of eagles with different genetic background. As hypothesised, both mitochondrial lineages were recovered also in eastern Europe, but the globally more eastern lineage was dominant. The presence of two microsatellite clusters was also confirmed, and these groups, too, show a non‐random geographic distribution, with, except for Poland, a high proportion of ‘eastern‐type’ eagles in the populations of east–central and eastern Europe.

Restoration of sea eagle population: A review

Abstract The population density of the white-tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla is very low in many countries. In last twenty years, the sea eagle population in South Bohemia was restored by strict protection subsidized by reintroduction. The active help consisted of feeding during winter and building of artificial nests. A new sea eagle breeding population arose in the Třeboň basin area in the early 1980’s. Until this time sea eagles had used former breeding places only for wintering, probably coming from the Baltic. The South Bohemian sea eagle population is very unique: it exists in a densely man-occupied landscape, mainly in areas with very intensive carp breeding in artificial fishponds and was partly artficially (help to wintering birds and reintroduction of some individuals) restored. The experience from South Bohemia may have importance for populations of the sea eagle in other areas of its occurence, primarily in the continental conditions

Using Raptors as Environmental Sentinels: Monitoring the White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla in Sweden

This paper summarizes results from the monitoring of reproduction of white-tailed sea eagle in Sweden 1965-2006. Since 1989 the eagle population on the Swedish Baltic coast has been included in the National Environment Monitoring Program as an indicator species for potentially harmful chemicals. The percentage of successfully reproducing pairs and nestling brood size decreased in synchrony with rising concentrations of contaminants in the 1950s on into the 1970s. Mean productivity was 1.3 young per pair prior to 1950 and decreased to 0.3 in 1965-1985. Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethene (DDE) in eagle eggs decreased from a range of annual means in 1965-1974 of 600-1200 microg g(-1) (lipid weight) to 60-140 microg g(-1) in 1996-2005. Total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations averaged above 1000 microg g(-1) into the early 1980s and remained in the range of 250-500 microg g(-1) in 1996-2005. Productivity began to improve when concentrations of DDE and PCBs dropped below approximately 300 and 800 microg g(-1), respectively. Brood size remains below the pre-1950 level in one coastal region, indicating a possible impact from other contaminants. The power to detect significant trends under the program is presented and discussed: if white-tailed sea eagle reproduction had been monitored earlier during the 20th century, the negative impact of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT, source of DDE) would have been signaled as early as the 1950s in the Baltic Sea. The dramatic fall of white-tailed sea eagle reproduction under the influence of DDT and PCBs, and the subsequent rise following their ban, illustrates the usefulness of raptors like sea eagles as sentinels for environmental pollutants.

Specific status and pathogenicity of syngamid nematodes in bird species (Ciconiformes, Falconiformes, Gruiformes) from Germany

A total of 549 birds from four orders were examined for nematodes in their respiratory system from 1995 to 2000. Twelve individuals of Falconiformes (n = 503), one of Gruiformes (n = 22) and one of Ciconiformes (n = 1), but no bird of the order Strigiformes (n = 23) were infected with syngamids. The syngamid species included Hovorkonema variegatum, Syngamus trachea and Cyathostoma trifurcatum from the trachea, bronchi and air sacs, with H. variegatum being the most prevalent. Cyathostoma trifurcatum from a black stork Ciconia nigra is a new record for Germany. The marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus and the white-tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla are new hosts for H. variegatum. Morphological characters such as the dorsal rays of the bursa copulatrix, length of the spicules and the mouth capsule are used to differentiate species of the family Syngamidae. Egg size is different between S. trachea and H. variegatum. In addition to morphological characters, the nucleotide sequence of the SSU ribosomal gene was determined for H. variegatum. Pairwise comparisons with the SSU sequence of S. trachea (AF036606) revealed sequence difference of 2.6%. The nucleotide sequence of the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA for different populations of H. variegatum was also determined. Pairwise comparisons revealed two separate strains with a sequence difference of 14.0% to 14.5% suggesting the existence of a cryptic species. Pathological findings associated with H. variegatum were found in 7 of 12 cases and consisted of thickened air sac walls and lesions or granuloma at the site of attachment of the worm, which occasionally involved the underlaying tissues. Lymphoplasmocytic air sacculitis was the most prominent histological lesion found.

Congener-specific analysis of chloronaphthalenes in white-tailed sea eagles Haliaeetus albicilla breeding in Poland

Forty-four congeners of higher chlorinated naphthalenes were identified and quantified in the breast muscles, liver and adipose fat of a few specimens of white-tailed sea eagle collected from the Baltic coastal and inland breeding areas in Poland in 1991–1992. Many of the identified chloronaphthalenes (CNs) were well resolved as single peaks on the Rtx-5 HRGC-MS/EI-SIR chromatograms; but still some of them coeluted in pairs (four tetra-, two penta- and six hexa-CNs) or triplicate (six tetra-CNs) on the chromatograms. All tetra-, penta-, hexa- and hepta-CNs present in Halowax 1014, a technical mixture of CNs, were found in the tissues of white-tailed sea eagles indicating a high persistency of these ubiquitous environmental contaminants. The profile and pattern of chloronaphthalenes found in sea eagles differed largely from that of Halowax 1014, suggesting a selective and structure-related metabolism of many CN congeners. Among the most persistent and highly bioaccumulating CNs in tissues of the sea eagles were congeners such as 1,3,5,7-T4CN (CA' no. 42), 1,2,4.6-/1,2,4,7-/1,2,5,7-T4CN (CN nos. 33/34/37) and 1,4,6,7-T4CN (CN no. 47); 1,2,3,5,7-/1.2,4,6,7-P5CN (CNnos. 52/60) and 1,2,4,6,8-P5CN (CN no. 61), and 1,2,3,4,6,7-/1,2,3,5.6,7-H6CN. Differences in the metabolic potency of some of the most persistent tetra- and penta-CNs were observed between juvenile and adult white-tailed sea eagles. The CN congener no. 54 (1,2,3,6,7-P5CN) also is present in tissues of white-tailed sea eagles. It is formed during combustion processes and has not been found in the technical mixtures of PCNs of the Halowax series.

Congener-specific analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in white-tailed sea eagles Haliaeetus albicilla collected in Poland

The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) congeners including highly toxic non-, mono-, and di-ortho coplanar members as well as their pattern were determined in breast muscles of white-tailed sea eagles collected dead between 1982 and 1990 in Poland. There was a wide variation in total PCB residue concentrations among eagles from various breeding sites, with the Baltic Sea coast registering the highest concentrations. The pattern of PCB residues differed between the eagles examined. Hexa-, hepta-, and pentachlorobiphenyls contributed between 45 and 56%, 18-and 37%, and 9 and 22% in total PCBs, respectively. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) for non-, mono-, and di-ortho coplanar PCBs were very high (8.0–72 μg/g wet wt) in white-tailed sea eagles from breeding sites of the coastal area of the southwestern Baltic Sea, and were relatively lower (0.69–4.0 μg/g wet wt) in other birds, including two specimens from breeding sites of inland Poland, which died because of acute lead poisoning. PCB IUPAC Nos. 118, 105, 126, and 156 were the highest contributors to the TCDD TEQ of coplanar members, occupying between 39.1 and 57.0%, 9.8 and 17.5%, 7.4 and 22.3%, and 7.0 and 14.2%, respectively. The concentrations of coplanar PCBs in adult white-tailed sea eagles were the highest ever reported in wildlife, but that of total PCBs were similar to those reported in dead eagles from the breeding sites of the coastal area of the northern Baltic in Sweden and Finland in the 1960s and 1970s.

Reproduction of the white‐tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla in Sweden

Sixty‐eight white‐tailed sea eagle territories were studied on the Swedish Baltic coast in 1964–1982 and 22 territories in Swedish Lapland in 1976–1982. Older data were assembled for comparison. The breeding frequency of adult pairs was high in both study areas (ca. 90%). Median egg‐laying dates were 17 March (Baltic) and 7 April (Lapland). Average clutch size and egg volume did not differ between samples from the Baltic taken between 1856 and 1982. Average clutch size was significantly smaller in Lapland (1.6 eggs) than on the Baltic coast (2.1 eggs). Clutch size in Lapland was positively related to carrion availability during March. Nestling survival was significantly lower in Lapland, due to starvation in broods of more than one young. Brood loss was significantly more frequent in Lapland. At the Baltic, nest success decreased from 75 to 22%, and brood size from 1.8 to 1.2, from the early 1950's to the mid 1960's. Nest success in 1976‐1982 was significantly lower at the Baltic (26%) than in Lapland (45%), with a much larger proportion of consistently failing pairs. The proportion of eggs laid that resulted in fledged young was estimated at 16% at the Baltic and 39% in Lapland. It is concluded that egg production and nestling survival were suppressed by limited food supply and nest success by human interference in Lapland, and that the reproductive impairment of the Baltic population was due primarily to contamination with toxic substances, mainly DDE.

White-tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla reintroduction to the Isle of Rhum, Scotland, 1975–1977

An attempt to reintroduce the white-tailed sea eagle to the west of Scotland was initiated by the Nature Conservancy Council in 1975, on the Isle of Rhum. Four eaglets were obtained from Norway that year; one of them died in captivity and the other three (all females) were released. Ten more were acquired in 1976 and a further four in 1977. Of these a total of 13 (8♀ and 5♂) had been released into the wild by May 1977. Two have since been recovered dead, but the others apparently adapted readily to a free-living existence. Eight more are to be released during 1978. The first nesting attempts can be expected once the young birds reach sexual maturity at 5 years of age (possibly in 1980 or 1981).

Breeding the White‐tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla at Kansas City Zoo

International Zoo YearbookVolume 13, Issue 1 p. 115-116 Breeding the White-tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla at Kansas City Zoo STEPHEN R. WYLIE, STEPHEN R. WYLIE *Curator of Birds, Kansas City Zoological Gardens, Swope Park, Missouri, USA1Search for more papers by this author STEPHEN R. WYLIE, STEPHEN R. WYLIE *Curator of Birds, Kansas City Zoological Gardens, Swope Park, Missouri, USA1Search for more papers by this author First published: January 1973 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-1090.1973.tb02119.x Authors is now Assistant Curator of Birds, Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, Pa., 19104, USA. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume13, Issue1January 1973Pages 115-116 RelatedInformation