Ciudad Real (EFE).- The Iberian Peninsula records a total of 841 breeding pairs of imperial eagles, of which almost half are in Castilla-La Mancha, where there are 396 pairs of these raptors.
The Iberian imperial eagle working group, made up of representatives of the environmental administrations of Spain and Portugal and with the advice of experts and specialized entities, has presented the results of monitoring and conservation work carried out in favor of one of the species emblematic of the Spanish fauna, and the only raptor endemic to the Peninsula.
Between 2021 and 2022, a minimum of 841 pairs of Iberian imperial eagles were recorded, 821 in Spain and an estimated 20 in Portugal, which represents a 53 percent increase in the population of these raptors since 2017, the previous year in which it was collected. a coordinated Iberian census, which included 536 couples.
The species continues to be distributed throughout five Spanish autonomous communities, although the number of provinces with the presence of territories has increased in this latest coordinated census to 9:00 p.m., since as of 2018, Granada, Cuenca and Palencia already harbor breeding pairs of the species.
Castilla-La Mancha is the autonomous community that hosts the largest number of breeding pairs, when a total of 396 Iberian imperial eagle pairs were recorded in the census in 2022, which represents 47 percent of the total in Spain.
Favorable Habitats for Imperial Eagles
The wide areas of this region that have very favorable habitats for the species, associated mainly with the Tagus valley, the Sierra Morena environment and the Campo de Montiel region, have allowed a significant increase in pairs and, at the same time, in the number of dispersing specimens settled in Castilian-La Mancha territory.
Within the territory of the community, the province of Toledo is revealed as key for this species, with 212 pairs recorded.
Also in Andalusia there has been a very significant increase in pairs, from the 70 registered in 2011 to the 136 in 2022, with a notable expansion of the settlement area of the species that has reached in recent years the Subbéticas mountain ranges and the province of Grenade.
In turn, Castilla y León has 131 pairs in a clear expansionary trend, mainly towards the north of this region, while the Community of Madrid also has a high density of imperial eagles, reaching 83 pairs in 2022 (in 2008 they were 30), while in Extremadura the population is also increasing, although at a slower rate, so that in 2022 a total of 75 pairs were counted.
For its part, Portugal reports a minimum of 17 pairs in its territory, estimating the possible presence of 20, mainly distributed throughout the Alentejo region and in areas bordering Extremadura.
monitoring and conservation
The breeding population of the Iberian imperial eagle has shown an upward trend since the monitoring and conservation work began, after the protection of the species and its inclusion in the Spanish Catalog of Threatened Species.
The first national census of the species, carried out in 1974 by Jesús Garzón, counted only 39 pairs.
However, 14 years after that first census, there were already more than one hundred couples (104) and the population continued to grow, at an average rate of 6 percent per year, until reaching 841 couples in 2022, while in 2023 it is expected update a new complete census, which allows confirming the growing trend of the species.
The work to adapt the technical characteristics of the supports of dangerous power lines has been essential to improve the survival of the species, since electrocution in these structures has been, and continues to be, the main unnatural mortality factor for the imperial eagle. iberian.
Another important factor of non-natural mortality has been poisoning with toxic baits illegally placed in the natural environment, such that between 1992 and 2017, 195 dead specimens were detected due to this cause.
The approval of regional action plans, as well as investment in prevention methods and prosecution of the illegal use of poisoned baits, have enabled this threat to be reduced proportionally in recent years.