Finally, we could let “Tokaj” fly fee near the place she was found after she fully recovered. This particular, strictly protected Imperial Eagle with signs of poisoning was taken to the Budapest ZOO where vets could cure her successfully.

After more than a year of silence, another Imperial Eagle fell victim to poisoning, however, this time the story may have a happy end due to quick actions taken by national park rangers and veterinarians, and the bird will fully heal up and be released back to the wild.

We had two main aims when we visited the countries of the Western Balkans. On the one hand, we intended to establish contacts there with conservationists to have a better picture about the significance of poisoning in these areas, so that we can calculate the probability of Imperial Eagles getting into trouble by this threat, and on the other hand, we helped wrapping up the Moustached Warbler expeditions organized by the Izsáki Bird Observatory and the Kiskunsági Bird Conservation Organization in the past twelve years.

One of the main goals of HELICON LIFE+ project running from 2012 through 2016 is to reduce bird crime targeting birds of prey species (poisoning, shooting, nest robbing). Egg collecting and taking chicks from nests have been considered gone, however, much to our surprise, these forms of crime occur, every year.

Monitoring Committee of the HELICON LIFE+ project and the Anti-Poisoning Working Group of the Hungarian Raptor Conservation Council held a workshop on November 20^th, 2014.

A gamekeeper found with a bag of nine dead buzzards on a pheasant-shooting estate has been found guilty of intentionally killing a protected species in what is England’s worst recorded case of poisoning birds of prey.

MME and its partners have been implementing the “Conservation of Imperial Eagles in Hungary” Life project from 2012 through 2016. The main goal of the 75% EU funded project, which has a budget of 600 million forints, is to find a solution to one of Europe’s worst raptor poisoning issues.

Traditional agricultural farming had survived through more than a thousand years and with its mosaic, small parcels and widespread practice of grazing formed and maintained the characteristic landscape of the Great Plains. This lifestyle had always functioned in a self-sustaining way offering habitat for all kinds of animals, which learnt how to exploit these possibilities.

“Viktorija” the young female Imperial Eagle fledged in Macedonia in 2013. Associates of MME and the Macedonian NGO Nature Conservation Association AQUILA satellite-tagged her in the nest on July 1^st, 2013.

This autumn, broadcasting, which can be followed via internet, has started again at the feeding station for the second time.