What Species: White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca), Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

Where: Naurzum Zapovednik in north-central Kazakhstan (zapovednik is a Russian word that can be translated as National Nature Reser

Who: Todd Katzner (National Aviary), Evgeny Bragin (Naurzum Zapovednik) and Andrew DeWoody (Purdue University).

When: 1997 - present

Why (threats): Eagles worldwide, like all large raptors, are threatened by a variety of forces that limit their ability to breed and survive. All four of these species appear on national or international “Red Lists” of threatened and endangered species. Their breeding is threatened by a number of factors, including habitat loss, persecution, and threats to their prey base. On migration and during winter, survival is threatened primarily by habitat loss and by shooting, although environmental poisons may also influence these birds.

Scientific or Conservation Problem this Project Addresses:

This is a demographic research project geared towards evaluating the significance of threats at different stages of the eagle's life cycle.

Current Goals: We have recently published mathematical models that evaluate the threats to different stages of the Eastern Imperial Eagle's life cycle and that identify the most appropriate ways to monitor eagle populations in general. Collaboration with geneticists from Purdue University continues to provide exciting new insights into the rate at which adult eagles survive, and completely novel ways to non-invasively monitor this population using genetic analyses of naturally shed feathers collected from eagle territories and communal roost sites.

Next Steps: In coming years we plan to continue our population monitoring and to expand our non-invasive genetic studies to include the other eagle species at and around the Zapovednik. We are also evaluating changes in some of the prey populations of these species and we are looking to incorporate local and international students into our research program.

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