The Imperial Eagle is a bird around which there are many legends: the frightening name leaves its mark. But, unfortunately, it is on the verge of extinction. To find out if the extinction of a unique species of birds can be prevented, read the article.
A new species of falconiformes
At the beginning of the 19th century, mass development and study of the steppes of the Aral Sea region and Kazakhstan began on the territory of tsarist Russia. During research, groups of birds were seen on the old mounds, outwardly similar to the golden eagle. The local population simply called them eagles, but the researchers, having found distinctive features, singled out a separate species and called it the "burial ground".
In the Southern Urals, the burial eagle birds have long been revered by the locals, however, like all representatives of the hawk family. Among the Bashkirs, Tatars and other peoples of the Trans-Volga and Urals, eagles are protected as sacred birds, where they received the name "burkut".
Many names are taken from the people, but literally from Latin the name of this species of eagle Aquila heliaca is translated as "solar eagle", and in English-speaking countries it is called Imperial eagle ("imperialeagle").
Habitat
The distribution of the Imperial Eagle is not universal, it lives in the steppe zone, forest-steppe and mixed forests of Eastern Russia and southern Siberia. Nesting has been noted in Europe, Asia - from the Baikal region to Altai, in the Urals, periodic nesting has been found throughout Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Transcaucasia, Mongolia and China.
Despite the maximum concentration of the Imperial Eagle in Eastern Europe and Asia, this bird also lives in the Iberian Peninsula, which indicates a gap in the habitat.
Description
The Imperial Eagle is a bird that is similar in appearance to relatives. But the feathered one also has a distinctive feature - epaulettes, white spots on the shoulders. Photos of the imperial bird clearly demonstrate this difference.
Body length varies from 60 to 84 cm (female eagles are much larger than males). The wingspan of the burial ground is 180-215 cm, which is slightly inferior to the closest relative - the golden eagle, whose wingspan during flight is 180-240 cm. The weight of the bird ranges from 2.4 kg to 4.5 kg. The chicks are born downy, the color of the down is white, only by the 5-7th year of life the birds acquire a distinctive color.
Activity and vocalization
The Imperial Eagle is a bird (a description of the appearance is given in this article), which is most active in the daytime. This is due to warm air currents, allowing her to soar for a long time, looking for prey.
A burial ground is a bird whose voice is similar to the vocalizations of other eagles. Only during the breeding season does it make sounds reminiscent of the barking of a dog, and at the moments of the approach of predators it “croaks”.
Feeding and feeding behavior
The ground squirrels are the basis of the food base of the burial ground, the populations of which are declining annually. This is due to the development of new lands by birds. The eagle does not exclude other small rodents from its diet. Sometimes the burial ground even allows itself to hunt birds, representatives of black grouse and ravens become a priority. It will easily catch even a nimble hare.
Like all birds of prey, this species of eagles does not disdain carrion, which explains the large concentration of representatives of hawks on old burial grounds.
Reproduction
A burial ground is a bird that starts breeding from 5-7 years old, by this time the period of maturation ends and plumage changes. It is believed that in the territory of the post-Soviet space this species of eagles prefers to nest on coniferous trees, but this is not entirely true. Representatives of hawks are happy to explore areas of the forest-steppe, where there are trees above 15 meters. The choice can also fall on the rocks, where there are flat areas.
The female lays 1 to 3 eggs once a year with an interval of a couple of days, most often it is the end of March, the whole of April, sometimes the breeding season captures the beginning of May (depending on the region of habitat).
Burial eagles are one of the few monogamous birds. Butthis is not their only feature - in a favorable situation, a pair of imperial eagles does not leave a nest, which increases in size every year (which gives the golden eagle a goal for improvement, since this representative of hawks has a much smaller nest).
Embrine Bird: How to prevent extinction
Unfortunately, this bird is in constant decline, as are many other unique species.
As mentioned above, the Imperial Eagle is a bird that chooses tall trees for nesting, preferring the tops of pines, less often settles on hardwoods. However, in the last 25-30 years there has been a massive cutting down of forest plantations that are not replenished with new plantings, which entails a reduction in bird nesting sites.
Another reason that put the burial ground on the path of extinction is the reduction of fields, steppes inhabited by ground squirrels, which are its main food base. In second place after rodents in the food chain are representatives of crows, which are also actively exterminated by humans as crop pests.
In connection with the above information, we can distinguish the following ways to preserve the Imperial Eagle population:
- support for reserves where groups of burial grounds live;
- creation of artificial nesting platforms on the basis of nature reserves;
- exchange between zoos that have the opportunity to create conditions for the breeding of hawks;
- environmentalactions based on nature reserves, zoos;
- preservation of the food base of burial grounds (ground squirrels and ravens) by creating reserves.
Conclusion
In the main habitat, the number of Imperial Eagle is up to 2000 pairs, which, taking into account the total area of the territory, is an extremely low figure. Preservation of the imperial eagle as a species largely depends on the agrarian and environmental policy of the state, in particular, on the development of agriculture: the expansion of pastures (large ungulates eat out the tall plants of the fields, and low vegetation is suitable for rodents, which, in turn, attract predators), creating forest plantations around the fields.
