Falco 28 - International Wildlife Consultants Ltd.

(i.e., Cinereous Vultures, Golden Eagles, Steppe Eagles,
Upland Buzzards, Saker Falcons and Ravens). The aim
of this survey was to understand how the dispersion of
breeding Saker Falcons was influenced by other species
in a raptor assemblage. The number and distribution
of Saker Falcon nests will be influenced by food
supply, nest site availability and competition between
conspecifics and other raptor species. The presence
of breeding Golden Eagles could potentially exclude
smaller raptors such as Saker Falcons from otherwise
suitable nesting sites. Furthermore, Saker Falcons in
Mongolia usually require an old nest of another species
for breeding, thus the dispersion of suitable stick nests
across the hill ranges largely determines the potential
nesting sites available for Saker Falcons. In the two
hill blocks we found 5 and 11 occupied territories but
only 1 and 6 pairs subsequently attempted to breed
respectively. The low breeding rate exhibited in both
mountain blocks was probably due to a poor food
supply, though in the latter hill range Sousliks were
sighted more frequently than in the former.
Breeding success was monitored at all nest sites in
our study area and Saker Falcon whole nest failures
were attributed to (i) deliberate removal by power line
workers, (ii) predation and (iii) desertion. In addition
to quantifying hatching and fledging success we also
measured post fledging survival (until late August) by
tracking fledglings that were individually marked with
wing tags and radio transmitters. In conjunction with
our nest monitoring visits we collected prey remains
and pellets in order to quantify the breeding season diet
across our study area. Furthermore, we collected data
on breeding success and diet of other raptors breeding in
our study area to examine the extent of dietary overlap
within the breeding raptor community.
We continued our satellite tracking studies of Saker
Falcons in Mongolia by fitting four transmitters to
nestlings all of which fledged successfully and are
still providing location data at the time of writing. It
is hoped that these fledglings will provide information
on post-fledging dispersal and juvenile migration.
All nestlings were fitted with microchips, which will
enable any birds subsequently trapped and taken to
the Arabian Peninsula for falconry to be identified at
Falcon Hospitals.
This year we have also been taking biological samples
from nestlings to measure the incidence of disease in the
Saker Falcon population of the Mongolian steppes. This
involved the collection of cloacal swab samples, which
will be analysed for the presence of avian influenza by
scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and
blood smears for serological tests to reveal exposure
to a range of pathogens by veterinarians in the United
Arab Emirates. Further co-operation with academic
institutions has been achieved by the initiation of a PhD
research project at the University of Aberystwyth.
Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan we have been working with Dr. Anatoliy
Levin of the Institute of Zoology and Evgeny Bragin of
the Naursum Nature Reserve.
Figure 5. Survey of power lines in the Betpaqdala
desert (A. Levin).
Figure 4. PhD student, Mark Etheridge radio-tracking
young Sakers to assess post-fledging survival.
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Dr. Levin along with Sergei Shmygalev, conducted
surveys of Saker Falcons in the southern mountains
of Tarbagatei ridge along with Sergey Kulagin an
ornithologist from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan in order
to train him in Saker Falcon survey techniques.