How Fast Does the Steppe Eagle Population Decline? Survey Results from Eilat, Israel

Abstract

The world Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) population is considered Endangered and is rapidly declining across most of it range. Eilat, in southernIsrael, is a bottleneck for this species on its migration route fromAfrica in spring. We conducted a series of surveys, counting the passing Steppe Eagles in springs 2015 to 2018 and collecting data about the age of the passing birds. We then compared our data with the Steppe Eagle data collected during four springs between 1977 and 1988. We did not find a significant decline in Steppe Eagle numbers passing Eilat on their spring migration between the two data sets. This implies that the overwintering sites in Africa and the migration flyway to and fromAfrica are relatively safe for the Steppe Eagles. We furthermore found that 75% of the eagles passing are adults and that their main passage is during the third week of February. This information helps to adjust conservation efforts.

Keywords

• birds of prey
• raptors
• steppe eagle
• aquila nipalensis
• migration