@article{451ad4ba67314788b420a3834879ba9b,
title = "Plasma chemistry and hematology reference values in wild nestlings of White-tailed Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla): effects of age, sex and hatching date",
abstract = "Studies on normal concentration of blood constituents of free-living birds are not very common. An adequate knowledge of blood chemistry is greatly recommended for those projects involving research and management of populations as far as they can be valuable for the assessment of the nutritional levels and health status of species. No previous published reports on these parameters from this species are available. The aim of this study was to obtain representative reference intervals for hematologic and biochemical values in free-living clinically healthy wild White-tailed Sea Eagle nestlings (Haliaetus albicilla). In addition, we investigated potential relationships between blood parameters, sex, age and hatching dates. Blood samples were obtained as part of routine monitoring and management when wild chicks were removed from their nest as part of a reintroduction program prerelease health check. A total of 83 nestlings, 43 males and 40 females, between 41-66 days of age (mean=54.22, SD=5.7), were sampled. Significant differences between sexes were found. Among hematological parameters, MCH, lymphocytes P and thrombocytes showed significant differences between males and females. In biochemical parameters, significant differences were found only in calcium, CK and LDH. No effect of the age in days of the nestling when the sample was taken in any of the analyzed hematological parameters was found. Any significant effect on biochemical parameters were found neither. Hatching date showed no relationship with blood parameters but urea. Urea was the only variable showing a strong relationship with hatching date, with those nestlings hatching later in the season showing higher urea concentration. ",
keywords = "Blood parameters, hatching date, plasma chemistry, hematology, urea, cholesterol, free-living raptor",
author = "Miguel Ferrer and Rhian Evans and Joanna Hedley and Simon Hollamby and Anna Meredith and Virginia Morandini and Owen Selly and Claire Smith and Whitfield, {D. Philip}",
note = "Funding Information: The reintroduction and monitoring program has been overseen by the Sea Eagle Project Team, comprising staff of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), RSPB, Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) and independent experts on the species. The substantial commitment, active participation and generous assistance by many Norwegian colleagues of the Norsk Ornitologisk Forening (NOF: Norwegian Ornithological Society) was essential to the study, in sourcing, monitoring and collecting the extracted birds for transfer to Scotland. Notably, Alv Ottar Folkestad coordinated and did the bulk of the chick collection for NOF. We are immensely grateful to Alistair Lawrie who was practically indispensable throughout, in his veterinary assistance on basic physical health checks for birds “in hand,” collection of samples, and also placing his clinic at disposal for care of birds deemed to be too ill to be housed within the aviaries. Biometric measurements, banding and tagging were undertaken under SNH and British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) licenses by David Anderson, Roy Dennis, Justin Grant, Duncan Orr-Ewing, Claire Smith and Ewan Weston, with assistance from Jenny Lennon. M. and M. Spink (Arbroath, Scotland) kindly supplied fresh and frozen fish as food for the birds. FES was similarly generous in supplying many mammalian food supplies and in hosting the hacking facility on their land. Natural Research Ltd. funded costs of laboratory analyses and molecular sexing. Volunteer efforts also assisted. The larger cost of the translocation project was funded and substantially supported by RSPB (Scotland) and SNH, with the Heritage Lottery Fund contributing in 2012. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",
year = "2023",
month = mar,
day = "17",
doi = "10.1007/s10336-023-02050-2",
language = "English",
pages = "1--8",
journal = "Journal of Ornithology",
issn = "2193-7192",
publisher = "Springer Verlag",
}