The woman from Rhodes who makes all the difference

This year we were notified, unexpectedly, about possible Bonelli’s Eagle territories on the island of Rhodes. Since Rhodes is the largest island of the Dodecanese, we didn’t hesitate for a single moment and decided to organize a visit, in order to have a better overview of the areas and the conservation status of the Bonelli’s Eagles on the island. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed by Christina Diakidis, gamekeeper of the First Hunting Federation of Crete & Dodecanese, partner of the LIFE Bonelli eastMed Program and proud handler of ‘Tsika’, the specially trained sniffer dog that together with Christina form the Poison Bait Detection Team of the Program in the region of the Dodecanese.

With her knowledge and her resourcefulness, Christina managed to be of great help to our field team on many different levels. Not only did she manage all the organizational details for our stay but, also, her understanding of the area and the landscape of Rhodes permitted us to complete our tasks much faster than anticipated. It was together with Christina that we made our first field trip to monitor Rhodes’ Bonelli’s Eagles. The report of this year's breeding season on the island includes in total of six (6) territories of the species, three active and three abandoned. Among the active territories, we located one where, unfortunately, there were no chicks hatched this year, while in another territory the couple successfully raised a chick that reached the age of fledgling and is now making its first flights in the sky of Rhodes.

It is then official:  the monitoring of the Bonelli’s Eagles in Rhodes has begun; however, a "window" was left open for the next (breeding) year when hopefully we will get the chance to have a better overview and collect more data for the condition and the movements of this iconic species.

Until then, our local Poison Bait Detection Team is making sure that our Bonelli’s Eagles are safe from poisoning until we meet them again!