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

How fast does the Steppe Eagle population decline?

Survey results from Eilat Noam Weiss, International Birding and Research Center, Eilat.

Photo: Hadoram Shrihai

The Status of Steppe Eagle The IUCN :Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) - endangered. "very rapid recent declines across much of its range".

changes in land use. power line collisions and electrocutions. stealing of young eagles from nests.

Photo: Hadoram Shrihai

Eilat’s bottle neck – Responsibility and Opportunity • Eilat is situated on one of the busiest migration bottlenecks in the world at the northern end of the Sahara desert.

• We Have both the opportunity and responsibility to monitor this migration for global conservation use.

• And for local protection of our stretch of the flyway.

Transmitters data of soaring birds

Eilat’s Raptor’s bottleneck

IUCN Steppe Eagle distribution map

Steppe Eagle’s flyways in the Middle East (as we knew it 20 years ago)

Meyburg, Bernd-U., Patrick Paillat, and Christiane Meyburg.

"Migration routes of Steppe Eagles between Asia and Africa: a study by means of satellite telemetry." The Condor 105.2 (2003): 219-227.

• On their spring migration all eagles wintering in Africa migrated via the Suez, Egypt–Eilat, Israel, area at the northern tip of the Red Sea. • The increase in Steppe Eagles overwintering in Arabia has probably contributed to the decline in the number of birds passing through Eilat in spring during recent years.

The survey: •2 count stations, 2 observers in each, 5 KM apart, sunrise to sunset.

•Double count by phone in real time.

•run by a protocol identical to similar count stations in Europe.

•Protocol as close as possible to what we know was in Eilat in the past.

•Data collection by Trektellen.

High Mountain

1

Low Mountain

2

It can get quite busy

Data collection

Wind survey and the raptors passage in southern Israel

Easterly wind

Westerly wind

Southern wind

All Eilat Raptor surveys, all methods

Steppe Eagle – comparable methods Ave. = 18821

Std. Dev. = 4478

Ave. = 15192

Std. Dev. = 1656.8

Steppe Eagle’s trend ??

20% decline in 30 years (not significant at current time)

Steppe Buzzard’s trend ??

When?

(2015-2018)

• 95% passed between the 10th of February and the 31st of March.

• 50% passed between the 23rd of February and the 6th of March.

• 33% between the 1st and 7th of March.

Age reported eagles – numbers

Age - percentage

• In total 75% are adults and 25% are non adults.

• In Feb 95% are adults.

• In March only 40% are adults.

Our local stretch of the Flyway

Flight safety

Water

Safe food available

We will probably have to stop.

Repeat of 4 more years in 10 years.

I hope to see you at the next

International Bird Observatories Conference Eilat, March 2019