In field practice, we repeatedly had to deal with cases of predation by martens in the nests of certain species of birds of prey. In some cases, not only clutches were destroyed and chicks were killed, but also adult birds such as the Common Buzzard. Most frequently these are small birds of prey which are subjected to predation press by mustelids (small falcons, the Sparrowhawk, Long-eared Owl). It is especially unpleasant when martens ruin nests of rare species of birds of prey.
Photo by S.Domashevsky, R.Vatrasevich
In our practice there was a case where the marten killed on the nest a large chick of the Short-toed Eagle in the age of 6-7 weeks. Therefore, in Chernihiv region in the Regional Landscape Park “Mezhrechenskii” there have been taken measures to protect two trees for one nesting pair of the Short-toed Eagles from attacks of the marten. It is the pair of raptors which lost their chick in 2008. In addition, during regular felling in breeding territory, the certain kind of nesting trees should be specially protected from terrestrial predators: the nesting trees which are easily accessible but selected by the Short-toed Eagle in the areas unsuitable for cutting forest. In this way we increase the probability of the annual use of these trees by birds, thereby reducing human disturbance on reproductive success.
Installing protection against terrestrial predators is also justified in cases of special studies related to the need to visit occupied nests of birds of prey (Galushin, Kostin 2008).
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