Satellite tracking of a rehabilitated Greater Spotted EagleAquila clanga

Abstract

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.

Movements of a male greater spotted eagle (Clanga clanga) during its 2nd and 3rd calendar years

“…Keeping in mind the wide longitudinal distribution of greater spotted eagle and that individuals can be short, medium or longdistance migrants, the behaviour of the bird that we tracked comported well with other tracking studies of greater spotted eagles (See: Meyburg et al 2016b, 2020b, especially those that wintered in Arabia (Meyburg et al 1995, Strick et al 2011, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) 2020, Kuwait Environmental Lens (KEL) unpublished data)all migrated between Arabia to locations in Kazakhstan and southern Russia, west of the Urals, except the adult tracked by Meyburg et al (1995), which migrated to the western Siberian lowlands east of the Urals. Also, migration arrival and departure dates were similar to other studies, as was ranging on summering and wintering areas, taking into account the age and breeding status of the tracked birds (Meyburg et al 1995, Strick et al 2011. Generalizations about migration being affected by the ecology of the species, distance between summering and wintering areas, the existence of stopover sites, and age/experience/breeding status of the individual (Newton 2008) appeared to hold true for the tracked bird.…”

“…Our data and those from other greater spotted eagles that wintered in Arabia (two adult, one juvenile) show spring migration starting between 2 February (adult, Meyburg et al 1995) and 26 April (this study), and ending between 21 April (Meyburg et al 1995) and 5 June (Strick et al 2011, See also RRRCN 2014, 2017a. Timing of spring migration for birds from farther west seems to be similarly variable, and linked to age (See: Väli et al 2021).…”

“…However, age/experience may have also played a part. The juvenile tracked by Strick et al (2011) wandered in Arabia during its first winter, settled on the Indus delta, Pakistan during its second winter, and returned to the delta in the two subsequent years (NARC unpublished data). Autumn migration was consistently slower than spring migration for the bird we tracked: mean autumn 2018 = 61.8 km/day, mean autumn 2019 = 84.4 km/day.…”

“…Although data are still few, and there are sure to be exceptions, telemetry and the few ring recoveries that exist tentatively suggest that most greater spotted eagles that spend summers west of about 42-44°E, winter in Europe and Africa, and those that summer to the east of those longitudes winter in Arabia, southern and Southeast Asia (Meyburg et al 1995, 2016b, 2020b, Strick et al 2011, RRRCN 2014, 2017a, b, Väli et al 2021, but see also: "Rudy" http://en.orlikgrubodzioby.org.pl/ artykul/satellitetracking).…”

“…Some birds migrated only as far as the northern rim of the Mediterranean, but others wintered in Arabia and north east and East Africa, as far south as Zambia (Meyburg et al 1998, PérezGarcía et al 2014. Tracking studies from farther east are few and of limited duration, but show birds from wintering grounds in Arabia migrating toward summering areas in northern Kazakhstan, and bordering areas of Russia in eastern Europe and western Siberia (Meyburg et al 1995, Strick et al 2011.…”