Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila Clanga Research Articles

Birds of Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, Nepal

Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park harbors diverse avifauna. The last checklist of birds for Shivapuri, published by SNP and BCN (2007), covered 318 species. However, it excluded the Nagarjun Forest birds as this area wasn't incorporated into the national park until 2009. Since then, many new bird sightings have been reported in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park (SNNP). To address this gap, we've compiled a comprehensive checklist of SNNP birds in Nepal's central mid-hills, drawing on direct observations and a literature review. A total of 396 species of birds belonging to 18 orders and 71 families were known to occur in the park. Order Passeriformes (n=260, 65%) and family Muscicapidae (n=50, 12%) have the highest record of the number of species. Out of 396 bird species, 237 species were recorded during the recent survey of 2021–2022 and 159 species were considered from the past literatures. 10.60% (n=42) of the recorded bird species are classified as nationally threatened according to Nepal’s national red list and 2% (n=8) are listed as globally threatened. The globally threatened birds include Vulnerable greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga, imperial eagle Aquila heliaca, and Kashmir flycatcher Ficedula subrubra; Endangered steppe eagle Aquila nipalensis and Pallas’s fish eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus; and Critically Endangered white-rumped vulture Gyps bengalensis, slender-billed vulture Gyps tenuirostris and red-headed vulture Sarcogyps calvus. A total of 55 species recorded are included in the CITES Appendices; one species is also listed in the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (NPWCA) Schedule I, and the park includes spiny babbler Acanthoptila nipalensis the only endemic bird of Nepal. Resident species make up the majority (n=243, 61.36%) of birds recorded in the national park. The remaining are the migrants which include summer and winter visitors, passage migrants and vagrants.

Morphological study for Accipitrid birds (Accipitridforms, Accipitridae) in Iraq

The current study revealed to six species of four genus belong to family Accipitridae, Order Accipitriforms; about 24 specimens of birds are deposited in the vertebrates departments in "the Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum INHM" were reviewed. Morphometrics of six species of mummified Accipitrid birds as follow: Sparrow-Hawk Accipiter nisus (Linnaeus, 1758), Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax (Temminck, 1828), Greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga (Pallas, 1811), long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus (Cretzschmar, 1825), Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758), and Short toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus (Gmelin, 1788), were reviewed. Global conservation status and the distribution ranges of each species throughout Iraq were discussed.

Abundance and diversity of threatened birds in Nangal Wetland, Punjab, India

Anthropogenic threats to wetland ecosystems, including discharge of industrial effluents, municipal sewerage, land reclamation, erosion and deforestation, have contributed to the rapid declines in populations of many bird species. The present study aimed to document avian diversity, including birds on the IUCN Red List, at Nangal Wetland, Punjab from February 2013 to January 2015. A total of 155 species belonging to 48 families (resident and migratory) under 17 orders were recorded, of which 13 come under various IUCN Red List categories: one ‘Endangered’—Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus; five ‘Vulnerable’—Common Pochard Aythya ferina, Greater-Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, Sarus Crane Grus antigone, Lesser White-Fronted Goose Anser erythropus, and Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus; and seven ‘Near Threatened’—Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca, River Lapwing Vanellus duvaucelii, Indian River Tern Sterna aurantia, Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala, Oriental Darter Anhinga melanogaster, Blossom-headed Parakeet Psittacula roseata, and Alexandrine Parakeet Psittacula eupatria. The Shannon-Weaver index of diversity was highest during winter (H’= 1.9) followed by autumn (H’= 1.9) then spring (H’= 1.5), and was lowest during summer (H’= 1.4). Though this wetland is highly productive and provides homes to many threatened species, untreated industrial effluents from adjoining areas sometimes create problems. The discharge of pollutants should be stopped through strict enforcement of environmental laws and policies.

South West Georgia: An Important Bottleneck for Raptor Migration during Autumn

Counts of migrating raptors at Batumi, Georgia, revealed the eastern Black Sea coast to form one of the most important bottlenecks for raptor migration during autumn in the Eurasian-African migration system. Totals for 10 species (European Honey-buzzard Pernis apivorus, Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus, Black Kite Milvus migrans, Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, Levant Sparrowhawk Accipiter brevipes, Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus, Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus, Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina, Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, Booted Eagle Aquila pennata) exceeded 1% of their estimated world population. We compare the observed abundance of each species to estimates of the presumed source populations in European Russia. Counts of most species involved only a limited subset of these source populations, except for European Honey-buzzard and Lesser Spotted Eagle, which were more numerous than predicted. This could be due to inaccurate population estimates or because birds from NE Europe or W Asia are also using this migration route.

Satellite tracking of a rehabilitated Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga

A Greater Spotetd Eagle Aquila clanga was rehabilited and released in the UAE. The bird was fitted with a solar-powered satellite transmitter and succesfully tracked from the Arabian Peninsula over Iran to Kazahstan and back to Pakistan.

Successful Breeding of a Ten-Year-Old Hybrid Spotted EagleAquila clanga×A. pomarinaRetaining Immature Plumage Characters

Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina are hybridising Eurasian raptors, but our knowledge of hybrid fertility is poor. Here, I present a case of interbreeding between a F1 hybrid spotted eagle male and a Lesser Spotted Eagle female in Estonia. The hybrid was first studied and ringed as a nestling in 1999, showing characters of both species. In 2009, the same bird was caught and, surprisingly, this ten-year-old individual had retained several immature characters. Again, characters of both species were recorded in the hybrid, as well as in his backcross-offspring. At the nest site level, the habitat of the hybrid's hatching site was intermediate but its nesting site was typical of A. pomarina. At the landscape level hatching and breeding sites resembled habitat typical of A. clanga in Estonia.

Widespread hybridization between the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and the Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina (Aves: Accipitriformes) in Europe

Hybridization is a significant threat for endangered species and could potentially even lead to their extinction. This concern applies to the globally vulnerable Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, a species that co-occurs, and potentially interbreeds, with the more common Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina in a vast area of Eastern Europe. We applied single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and microsatellite markers in order to study hybridization and introgression in 14 European spotted eagle populations. We detected hybridization and/or introgression in all studied sympatric populations. In most regions, hybridization took place prevalently between A. pomarina males and A. clanga females, with introgression to the more common A. pomarina. However, such a pattern was not as obvious in regions where A. clanga is still numerous. In the course of 16 years of genetic monitoring of a mixed population in Estonia, we observed the abandonment of A. clanga breeding territories and the replacement of A. clanga pairs by A. pomarina, whereby on several occasions hybridization was an intermediate step before the disappearance of A. clanga. Although the total number of Estonian A. clanga × A. pomarina pairs was twice as high as that of A. clanga pairs, the number of pairs recorded yearly were approximately equal, which suggests a higher turnover rate in interbreeding pairs. This study shows that interspecific introgressive hybridization occurs rather frequently in a hybrid zone at least 1700-km wide: it poses an additional threat for the vulnerable A. clanga, and may contribute to the extinction of its populations.

The birds of Araku, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Avifaunal survey carried out from December 2006 to September 2007 in Araku Valley, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, revealed the presence of a total of 147 species of birds belonging to 43 families. One-hundred-twelve species of birds in Araku Valley were resident breeders, 23 species winter visitors, nine species local migrants, two species passage migrants and one species summer visitor. Many bird species were seen in more than one habitat for nesting, roosting and foraging. The dominant feeding guild of birds was insectivorous. Four globally threatened species, namely, the Purple Wood-Pigeon Columba punicea Blyth, 1842, the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga Pallas, 1811, the Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni Fleischer, 1818 and the Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus (S.G. Gmelin, 1770), were recorded during the survey from the area

Habitat use by the Vulnerable greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga interbreeding with the lesser spotted eagle Aquila pomarina in Estonia

Major threats to the Vulnerable greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga are habitat loss and hybridization with the lesser spotted eagle Aquila pomarina, but no quantitative studies have been carried out to understand these processes. In Estonia the known remaining A. clanga population comprises only five pure and nine mixed pairs. We describe their habitat at the scale of both the home range and nest site, and use logistic regression models for comparisons with random forest plots and nest sites of A. pomarina. The territories of A. clanga were characteristically near waterbodies, where the species' nesting preference was for dense forest with a pronounced old-growth structure. Habitats of the two species were distinct at both spatial scales. Open natural landscapes were favoured by A. clanga but avoided by A. pomarina. Within its home range A. clanga occupied old wet stands containing black alder, birch and pine, whereas A. pomarina preferred old spruce stands. Multivariate models, which summarized these differences between the two species, did not reveal distinct habitat features of mixed pairs compared with A. clanga pairs. Hence, interbreeding pairs may occupy previous A. clanga territories, and these deserve similar protection to those currently inhabited by A. clanga pairs.

British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee: 30th Report (October 2003)

British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee: 30th Report (October 2003)

Waterbirds in coastal wetlands along the Persian Gulf coast of Iran, January–February 2000

In January and February 2000, about 20 wetland sites were visited to count waterbirds and pay special attention to the presence of Slender-billed Curlews Numenius tenuirostris, a Globally Threatened species. At least 1,200 Eurasian Curlews N. arquata and 240 Whimbrels N. phaeopus were checked individually, but no Slender-billed Curlews were observed. More than 53,000 waterbirds of 82 species were counted during the survey, including Globally Threatened Species like Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus, Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris, Ferrugineous Duck Aythya nyroca, White-tailed Eagle Halaeetus albicilla, Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, and Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca. Only a small part of the wetlands along the Iranian Gulf coast were counted and a total of over 240,000 waders were estimated to winter in the surveyed wetlands. Our survey suggests that the total Iranian Gulf coast is very important for waterbirds and in particular for waders and Dalmatian Pelican. Apparently suitable habitat for Slender-billed Curlews, including irrigated wheat fields, extensive salt marshes and marshland close to intertidal mudflats, was found in the Hilleh Protected Area (42,600 ha) and Monde Protected Area (46,700 ha), as well as much of the surrounding area up to Bushehr and Monde River Delta.

Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga in Tanzania and its status in Africa

Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga in Tanzania and its status in Africa