Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca)

The Imperial Eagle is at heart a bird of open steppe country, customarily nesting on tall isolated trees. It also occurs in forests, and at present in Europe, with its range having been decimated by habitat destruction and persecution, it has almost entirely retreated to large tracts of hilly forested land.

By Koshy Koshy from Faridabad, Haryana, India – Eastern Imperial Eagle (Juvenile), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83142767

In most parts of its range the Eastern Imperial Eagle feeds mainly on mammals, which it catches by pouncing upon them, either from a perch (often a haystack) or from a plunge during soaring flight. Despite being very large, not much smaller than the Golden Eagle, the Imperial Eagle tends towards feeding little and often rather than taking a few big meals. Hamsters and susliks, which abound on the fields of Eastern Europe, usually suffice. Birds are less frequent prey, accounting for perhaps one-fifth of the annual diet (e.g. in Hungary).

The Eastern Imperial Eagle is mainly a migrant to Europe, wintering in the Middle East. At least some birds pair up in their wintering grounds, where large eagles can be surprisingly sociable. In February or March they return and occupy home ranges, within which the large stick nest, a metre or more in diameter, is built.

From ‘Birds: A Complete Guide to All British and European Species’, by Dominic Couzens. Published by Collins and reproduced with permission.