22 Introduction The Short-toed Snake-eagle (Circaetus gal- licus Gm.) is distributed from the north-west Afri- ca and south-west Europe to the Gulf of Finland and east to Asia, with disjunct populations in India and on the Lesser Sundas (BirdLife International, 2007). The total world population is estimated to be 10,000- 100,000 individuals (Ferguson-Lees & Christie, in BirdLife International 2007), and its conservation status has been evaluated as Least Concern (IUCN 2007). In Europe its population is estimated to be 8400-13000 pairs (BirdLife International, 2004), with highest population (2000-3000 pairs) in Spain. On the Balkan Peninsula, it is most numerous in Greece (300-500 pairs), and the other countries have similar population sizes (Albania: 50-100, Bulgaria: 80-200, Croatia: 100-250, Serbia and Montenegro together: 130-170, BirdLife International 2004). The Short-toed Snake-eagle is a migratory species, in Europe arriving at breeding territories in mid-March to mid-April, earlier in the south of the continent. It leaves the breeding areas mostly from mid-September to mid-October. Eastern Europe- an populations winter in India, occasionally South- DISTRIBUTION AND ESTIMATION OF THE POPULATION SIZE OF THE SHORT-TOED SNAKE-EAGLE Circaetus gallicus IN MACEDONIA Metodija VELEVSKI & Bratislav GRUBAČ Macedonian Ecological Society, PO Box 162, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia Institute for Nature Protection of Serbia, Voždova 14, 18000 Niš, Serbia ABSTRACT Velevski M. & Grubač B. (2008): Distribution and estimation of the population size of the Short-toed Snake-eagle Circaetus gallicus in Macedonia. Proceedings of the III Congress of Ecologists of the Republic of Macedonia with International Participation, 06-09.10.2007, Struga. Special issues of Macedonian Ecological So- ciety, Vol. 8, Skopje. Data on the distribution of the Short-toed Snake-eagle Circaetus gallicus in Macedonia were gathered in the period 2000-2007. Presence of 61-77 pairs was confirmed, and estimation of the total Macedonian population was done to 120-150 pairs, with presently stabile trend. Estimated breeding density in Southern Macedonia was 20,3 km 2 /pair. Most of the territories were located in the degraded oak forests in Southern Macedonia, on altitude of 300-800 m asl. (range 65-1200 m asl). However, the estimated breeding density was much higher in the Greek Juniper scrublands and pseudomaquies (5,8 km 2 /pair), and therefore we consider these habitat types as typical for this species in Macedonia. Key words: Short-toed Snake-eagle Circaetus gallicus, Macedonia, distribution, population size east Asia, while western populations in sub-Saha- ran Africa (Cramp & Simmons, 1980). Occasional- ly, is known to winter in southern Europe, e.g. Spain (Martinez & Sanchez-Zapata, 1999), or possibly Greece (Handrinos & Akriotis, 1997). In Macedonia the species has been recorded by many authors, but the total number of published observations is surprisingly low. Short overview is presented in Tab. 1. Methods Survey of the Short-toed Snake-eagle was performed in the period 2000-2007. All records were noted either as „territorial behaviour“ (pair or fam- ily, or single bird seen soaring, foraging or taking prey to the nest) or „movements“ (dispersion, migra- tion or observations of birds flying high above un- suitable habitat for breeding). No special search for nests or roosting places was done. All individual re- cords (n=162) were presented on a topographic map (1:100000), using ArcMap software. All records of single birds far from other known territories or other records were considered as „territory“, unless they were previously classified as „movements“, or were Оригинален научен труд Original Scientific Article