75
Acrocephalus 24 (117): 73 – 82, 2003
bird was pale above, had a dark band on the tail and small
white patches on the underwing. Some of its feathers were
also missing. For the second time we encountered it while
walking back to the car, coming from the north of the
airport, chased by a Common Buzzard Buteo buteo and a
Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus. Later a nervous pair of
Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus joined the group
attacking the Golden Eagle. In the thermal updraught the
group circled up, until we could not see them anymore. The
Golden Eagle was pale on the back. The third observation
was made at the car itself. In this case the Golden Eagle flew
in from the same direction as the bird observed for the
second time. This bird, too, was chased by a Common
Buzzard, but abandoned its chase as soon as the eagle flew
away. The latter had large, long white patches on the
underwing and with no missing primary and secondary
feathers. We assumed that the first and the third bird were
not the same, for it looked that they were of different age.
Due to the blinding light, we did not have a good view of
the second bird’s underwings, but I believe that we were
dealing with the same eagle as during the first observation.
Apart from these sightings, we had two observations of a
Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus, in both cases with a pale
snake in its claws, and two territorial Hoopoes Upupa epops.
Maarten de Groot, Droevendaalsesteeg 61, 6708 PN Wageningen, 
The Netherlands, e-mail: M.deGroot@rocketmail.com
Ka~ar Circaetus gallicus
Short-toed Eagle – two observations near Dornberk
in Vipavska dolina (UTM VL08, SW Slovenia): (1) a
pair on 3 Aug 2002, (2) one individual with a snake
on 17 Sep 2002
Dne 3.8.2002 sem nad Dornberkom opazoval par ka~arjev,
ki sta letela na medsebojni razdalji pribli`no 50 m. Priletela
sta iz jugovzhoda, usmerjena pa sta bilo proti severozahodu
in se po~asi spu{~ala. V tem letnem ~asu je to prvo
opazovanje v okolici Dornberka. Kolega Erik [inigoj mi je
povedal, da je tudi sam opazoval par ka~arjev dva dni
kasneje le nekaj kilometrov stran od Dornberka. [e enkrat
pa sem tega orla opazoval 17.9.2002, ko je kro`il s ka~o v
kljunu, prav tako nad Dornberkom. Opazoval sem ga
pribli`no deset minut, nato pa se je spustil v bli`nji gozd. 
Toma` Berce, Pre{ernova 9, SI-5294 Dornberk, Slovenija
Kanja Buteo buteo
Common Buzzard – on 22 Dec 2002, five Common
Buzzards and one Hooded Crow Corvus corone cornix
were feeding on carcasses of at least two pigs and one
goat at Medvedce reservoir SE of Pragersko (UTM
WM53, NE Slovenia). About 100 meters away,
another Common Buzzard was seen feeding on a bird
cadaver caught in the ice. Common Buzzards were
quite numerous on that day, for altogether 75
individuals were counted between Maribor, Po`eg and
Medvedce reservoir.
Dne 22.12.2002 sem obiskal zadr`evalnik Medvedce. Tam
sem skoraj na koncu obhoda ob Polskavi videl vzleteti
kanjo, kmalu nato pa {e dve. Pribli`al sem se in opazil, da se
je pet kanj skupaj s sivo vrano Corvus corone cornix prerivalo
na kadavrih vsaj dveh svinj in koze. Kasneje sem na
zadr`evalniku opazil {e eno kanjo na tleh. Kanja se je hranila
s kadavrom v led ukle{~ene ptice. Tega dne so bile kanje
nasploh povsod {tevilne, saj sem jih denimo v trikotniku
Maribor – akumulacija Po`eg – zadr`evalnik Medvedce
na{tel kar 60, na samem zadr`evalniku pa {e dodatnih 15. 
Dejan Bordjan, ul. 8. februarja 50, SI-2204 Miklav` na Dravskem polju,
Slovenija, e-mail: dejanonih@email.si
@erjav Grus grus
Common Crane – a flock of 26 birds observed on 7
Apr 2002 near Pragersko (UTM WM53, NE
Slovenia). 5 birds landed and began to forage in the
fields.
V Sloveniji se `erjavi v zadnjih letih pojavljajo dokaj redno,
zlasti je opa`ena mo~nej{a selitev spomladi. Iz doslej znanih
podatkov je razvidno, da se pojavljajo posamezno ali po ve~
deset ali sto osebkov hkrati. Doslej najve~jo jato sem imel
prilo`nost opazovati 7.4.2002 pri Pragerskem, ko je 26
`erjavov v zna~ilnem klinu nizko preletelo ribnike. Bilo je
kristalno jasno jutro po prehodu hladne fronte in mo~nej{o
ohladitvijo. Kmalu zatem ko so preleteli ribnike, se je
skupina petih osebkov lo~ila od jate in se previdno spustila
na zorano polje in se potem tam skoraj pol ure
prehranjevala. Nato je tudi teh pet zamudnikov odletelo za
mati~no jato v smeri Ptuja, pri ~emer so uporabili termiko
in se z jadranjem v krogih povzpeli zelo visoko na nebo.
Omeniti velja tudi naslednji prav neljubi dogodek. Ko so
`erjavi preleteli ribnike in tamkaj{nje {portno streli{~e, so se
za trenutek razpr{ili na vse strani ob nenehnem pokanju
pu{k. Ker je Pragersko oziroma celotna kotlina nekak{no
ozko grlo pred {irokim Dravskim in Ptujskim poljem,
opa`amo na tem prostoru mo~no selitev ptic, posebno ujed,
razli~nih pobre`nikov in {tevilnih pevk. Postavitev
{portnega streli{~a neposredno ob ribnikih, ki so `e tako
mo~no degradirani zaradi {portnih ribi~ev, je povsem
nesprejemljiva za prostor izjemne selitvene pomembnosti.
Tudi ta primer kot mnogo drugih ka`e, kako v Sloveniji
razumemo in uresni~ujemo varstvo prosto`ive~ih `ivalskih
vrst in narave v celoti.
Franc Bra~ko, Gregor~i~eva 27, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenija