Raptors Conservation 43/2021

On the basis of data obtained from ARGOS/GPS and GPS/GSM tracking of 34 eagles (4 Steppe Eagles (Aquila nipalensis) from Central KZ, 1 Steppe Eagle from Southern Ural region, 22 Steppe Eagles, 5 Eastern Imperial Eagles (Aquila heliaca) from the ASR and 2 Greater Spotted Eagles (Aquila clanga) from the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion), we have defined the main flyways, terms, and other parameters of migration of eagles through Eastern Kazakhstan. We have outlined the borders of the migration corridor and estimated the number of migrants passing through it. The study highlights the importance of the Karatau Ridge for eagles from the vast territories of Russia and Kazakhstan. But we are also concerned about the development of wind farms with horizontal-axis wind turbines that pose ultimate danger for raptors in the Karatau migration corridor. One of them already exists – the Zhanatas Wind-Power Station. Here we calculated the possible negative impact on the eagle population from existing and projected wind farms of the Karatau ridge and give our recommendations for neutralizing the damage from the development of the electric power industry in Karatau.

DOI: 10.19074/1814-8654-2021-43-108-213

Raptor Research Raptors Conservation 2021, 43 123

Fig. 3. Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis), Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca), and Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga) population groups in northern Eurasia – above; the main of eagle migration through Karatau and the outline of the area from where eagles move to overwintering sites in the Western Circum-Himalayan migration corridor (WCHMC) – in the center; eagle population groups ranged by share of birds migrating through Karatau – below. Legend: 1 – state borders, 2 – Zhanatas WPP, 3 – Karatau Ridge, 4 – 3 eagle species population groups (group codes correspond with those in table 2), 5 – water bodies, 6 – area occupied by eagle population groups associated with the WCHMC, divided by zones: zone 1 – 1,696,603 km 2 – probability of eagle migration through Karatau = 80%, zone 2 – 755,148 km 2 – probability of eagle migration through Karatau = 50%, zone 3 – 863,978 km 2 – the probability of eagle migration through Karatau = 20%, 7 – the main flight routes, 8 – eagle population groups associated with the WCHMC ranged by the probability of the migration through the Karatau corresponding with the zone 1, 2, and 3 outlines (see item 6).

Fig. 9. Schematic of autumn and spring migration of Steppe Eagles, Imperial Eagles and Greater Spotted Eagles in the Western Circum-Himalayan Migration Corridor. Legend: 1 – borders of the countries, 2 – Zhanatas WPP, 3 – Karatau Ridge, 4 – zones with a different percentage of birds flying within their borders during migration.

Fig. 15. On the left – a map with segments of eagle tracks on migrations through Karatau. Track segments are ranged by speed of bird movement (km/h); on the right – a diagram of the azimuth of eagle movements on spring and autumn migrations in groups with below average (min) and above average (max) speeds. The diagram shows the percentage (%) of track segments in each group: group of segments with speeds above average on autumn migration – n=135, below average on autumn migration – n=264, above average on spring migration – n=90, below average on spring migration – n=100. Legend: A – Zhanatas WPP, B – Karatau Ridge, C – segments of eagle tracks ranged by speed in km/h.

Fig. 19. Locations of eagles ranged by wind speed (M1) and angle between wind direction and bird movement (M2) on DEM and in histograms (G1 and G2), and scatter diagrams showing dependence of eagle flight speed on wind speed (D1) and angle between wind direction and bird movement (D2).

Fig. 25. Zhanatas WPP on a high-resolution satellite image and tracks of eagles passing by the turbines: 1 – Uragan, 09/11/2019, 2 – Tes, 07/10/2021, 3 – Ita, 02/11/2019.

Fig. 29. Map of winds at 200 m above ground from Global Wind Atlas version 3.0 (Badger et al., 2021) with tracks of Steppe Eagles, Imperial Eagles and Greater Spotted Eagles from the Altai-Sayan Region and Central Kazakhstan (bottom) and boundary of the migration corridor according to eagle track density data (top).