The Iberian Imperial Eagle population is said to have been brought back from the threshold of extinction.
The historic boom in numbers is due, in part, to the birth this season of 15 chicks in Andalusia’s Doñana national park. They are the offspring of six of the nine adult breeding pairs in the park, one of Europe’s most important wetlands.
“It's been a milestone,” says Carlos Dávila, a specialist with the Spanish NGO BirdLife. “We have recovered the numbers we had in the 1980s. It's a triumph.
“We have had four nests with three chicks each,” says Dávila. “It's higher than the average. These are exceptional results.”
Disease has reduced rabbit numbers in Doñana by more than 90%, leaving few prospects for the Iberian Eagle or the endangered Iberian Lynx. As a consequence, food is being placed throughout the park in strategic positions.
Dead rabbits are placed at the top of trees and on high branches out of the way of other predators so that the eagles can find them. Otherwise there is the likelihood that the eagles will leave the protected area to hunt, increasing the risk of being seen by hunters.
BirdLife says this effort is aimed particularly at those birds who are about to have offspring or whose chicks have just arrived, as it provides a nutritional boost.
The NGO believes that a parallel scheme is needed now to increase the rabbit population, badly hit by a viral disease.
The last time the Iberian Eagle was found in such numbers in Doñana was before the disease began killing the rabbits. “That is why the figures are such an achievement,” Dávila said.
Throughout Spain and Portugal, 500 breeding Iberian Imperial Eagle pairs have been identified. The eagles are still vulnerable, but are no longer in immediate danger of dying out.
