White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla L.) is an indigenous species in Slovenia, supposedly present in the area since the Ice Age. Today, the entire Slovenia hosts 8 to 11 known couples, however, the population is increasing. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the nesting biology of the white-tailed eagle in the Kočevje region as there was previously no reliable information regarding the nesting behaviour and the rearing of the eaglets. With the use of a video system, a nest and a feeding ground intended for setting carcasses during the winter were continuously observed in 2019. Due to technical difficulties, only a few basic information were observed in 2020. During both years of study, adult white-tailed eagles have successfully reared two eaglets each year. After the examination of the footages, it has been established that the white-tailed eagles nesting phenology in the Kočevje region in aligned to earlier phase than in Northern Europe and is similar to other populations in Central Europe. Both male and female do the brooding, however, the majority of brooding is done by the female as they perform two thirds of the total brooding time. Both male and female white-tailed eagles bring food to the eaglets, mainly between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. During the our study the white-tailed eagle was only observed three times in the winter feeding ground.
|
