Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti). Adult perched next to its nest. Monfragüe, spring 2010. Photograph taken from 2.5 km away (Javier Prieta).A previous blog entry expressed some alarm at the apparent fall of Extremadura's population of Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti) from 49 to 41 pairs in two years. These fears were based on the figures sent up by the Regional Government of Extremadura to the national Environment Ministry. At the time, given the unofficial nature of the information we published this bad news with all due caveats. Happily, this apparent decline turns out not to be true, since Extremadura's actual Spanish Imperial Eagle population in 2009 was 47 pairs. This more up-to-date information comes from regional press reports of a visit by EU officials to assess the results of the EU "LIFE Programme" initiative to help conserve this raptor in Spain [read more here]. While waiting with bated breath for the official 2010 figures, which might be somewhat brighter, at least we know that the species has been holding pretty steady in the region in recent years, with a medium term increase since reliable counts have been made. We publish below new graphs of the Spanish Imperial Eagle to correct the ones previously shown in this blog.
