A GPS-tracked black kite that started its life in the Czech Republic stopped transmitting after it migrated to Malta, Birdlife said on Monday.
The reported disappearance comes as hunting at sea is in full flow, as part of the annual autumn hunting season. Hunting at sea was permitted starting October 1.
Birdlife said in a statement that it has received reports of multiple species of protected birds coming under fire in the past weeks, from lesser spotted eagles, to a short-toed snake-eagle, black storks, black kites and European honey-buzzards.
Enforcement resources, it said, are struggling to keep up with reports of poaching.
Hunting at sea sees over 290 licensed hunters using boats to chase down migrating birds in open water from a minimum of three kilometres from the coast.
That limit could soon be significantly slashed: a proposal presented by hunters to the ORNIS Committee proposes allowing hunting at sea from just one kilometre away from the shore. The committee, which establishes regulations for hunting and trapping, is due to meet on Tuesday.
A bird's journey across Europe
The Czech GPS-tracked black kite - coded OT-093 - was one of four birds fitted with a solar-powered GPS transmitter to monitor their migration by the University of Veterinary Sciences in Brno.
It started its journey on September 23 heading southwest through Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia. On September 29, it crossed the Adriatic Sea. By October 2, it reached southern Sicily.
The following day, it reached Malta and was recorded flying past Gozo at 2.30pm. One hour later, it reached the Rabat/Dingli area, and settled to sleep in trees in Fawwara.
That was the last time it was tracked. By the following morning, its transmitter was no longer working, Birdlife reported.
A honey-buzzard goes AWOL
Birdlife said it was the second such case in a week.
An exhausted honey-buzzard crash landed at an apartment in Pietà on September 15, and was released on Comino, after it was nursed back to health by Birdlife.
But upon its release on October 2, it headed south past Buskett, and continued further south in the afternoon, with its signal going dead around 4.30pm in the limits of Birżebbuġa.
In both cases, the trackers fitted on the birds are believed to have been destroyed upon the birds being killed.
The organisation said that conservation efforts at protecting such species have proved tough for its staff in the past days, with birdwatchers and volunteers spotting a good number of rare species that are highly targeted for taxidermy migrating through Malta.
Birdlife said that while efforts watching over a short-toed snake-eagle proved successful at first, with a single bird managing to survive two nights on Malta despite attempts at shooting at it, the bird left on October 1 to be chased by a boat with hunters, who were filmed shooting it down between Malta and Filfla.
Footage of the incident was passed to the police's Environmental Protection Unit, following which an investigation set off to apprehend the suspects.
In another incident, a colour-ringed lesser spotted eagle that made an appearance over Buskett last Saturday was also killed in the vicinity shortly after birdwatchers attempted to photograph its ring to determine its origin.
Up to now, no information on the origins of this eagle is known, Birdlife said.
“It is evidently an open season for the collection of prized species for taxidermy, and it is clearly not happening just on land but at sea, taking advantage of the scant police resources on land, absent at sea,” Birdlife's head of conservation Nicholas Barbara said.
Birdlife appeals to members of the public to come forward with any information on such incidents and assist the police in enforcing hunting legislation.
Reports can be made by email to info@birdlifemalta.org or on tel. 119, 2134 7645 or 7925 5697.