• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Climate Change maps
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	A2acde+3cde+4acde	A2acde+3cde+4acde

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Endangered	A2acde+3cde+4acde
2018	Vulnerable	A2acde+3cde+4acde
2016	Vulnerable	A2acde+3cde
2013	Vulnerable	A2acde+3cde+4acde
2012	Near Threatened	A2acde
2009	Near Threatened	A2(a,c,d,e)
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	Low
Land mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	26,000,000	medium
Number of locations		-
Severely Fragmented		-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals	unknown	poor	not applicable	0
Population trend	Decreasing	poor	inferred	-
Decline (3 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (5 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation future)	50-79	-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation past and future)	50-79	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations		-	-	-
Percentage in largest subpopulation		-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	11.1	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population has not been quantified, but was estimated as probably 'in tens of thousands' by Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001). The population in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini is believed to be c.800 pairs (Taylor 2015); the population in Namibia is estimated at <350 pairs (Simmons 2015). In Ethiopia, raptor road-count surveys between 2010-2017 had a Martial Eagle observation rate of 0.00055 individuals/km (E. Buechley in litt. 2020). Martial Eagles are still widespread and frequently observed in Malawi (S. Chihana in litt. 2020), and Tanzania (N. Baker in litt. 2020).

Trend justification: Declines have taken place across much of this species's range owing to habitat loss, deliberate and incidental poisoning, collisions with power lines, and pollution. Surveys across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger detected a reduction in the observation rate in unprotected areas from 0.8 to 0 birds/100 km, and a reduction in the observation rate in National Parks from 1.4 to 0.7 birds/100 km (Thiollay, 2006). These rates of reduction are equivalent to a 100% reduction in unprotected areas and a 51% reduction in National Parks when scaled across three generations. Similarly in Botswana, Garbet et al., (2018) reported a reduction in observation rates from 0.14 to 0.09 birds/100 km, which after controlling for variations in transect survey lengths and distributions equates to a rate of decline of 67% over three generations. In Kenya, surveys detected a 65% reduction in the observation rate in unprotected areas (from 0.23 to 0.08 birds/100 km) and a 133% increase in the observation rate in protected areas (from 0.53 to 1.24 birds/100 km; Ogada et al., in prep. a). These rates of reduction would equate to a 58% reduction in unprotected areas and a 102% increase in protected areas over three generations. Analysis of reporting rates for South Africa from the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP) 1 (1987–1992) and SABAP 2 (2007–2012) also found a 59% reduction in mean reporting rate (from 7.3% in SABAP 1 to 3.0% in SABAP 2; Amar & Cloete, 2018). Scaled across three generations, this rate of change would equate to a reduction of 77%. The overall rate of decline is difficult to quantify but is suspected to have been very rapid over the past three generations (33 years). It is consequently placed in the band 50-79%.

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Presence	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Angola	N	Extant	Yes
Benin	N	Extant	Yes
Botswana	N	Extant	Yes
Burkina Faso	N	Extant	Yes
Burundi	N	Extant	Yes
Cameroon	N	Extant	Yes
Central African Republic	N	Extant	Yes
Chad	N	Extant	Yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	N	Extant	Yes
Côte d'Ivoire	N	Extant	Yes
Eritrea	N	Extant	Yes
Eswatini	N	Extant	Yes
Ethiopia	N	Extant	Yes
Gambia	N	Extant	Yes
Ghana	N	Extant	Yes
Guinea	N	Extant	Yes
Guinea-Bissau	N	Extant	Yes
Kenya	N	Extant	Yes
Liberia	V	Extant			Yes
Malawi	N	Extant	Yes
Mali	N	Extant	Yes
Mauritania	N	Extant	Yes
Mozambique	N	Extant	Yes
Namibia	N	Extant	Yes
Niger	N	Extant	Yes
Nigeria	N	Extant	Yes
Rwanda	N	Extant	Yes
Senegal	N	Extant	Yes
Sierra Leone	N	Extant	Yes
Somalia	N	Extant	Yes
South Africa	N	Extant	Yes
South Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Tanzania	N	Extant	Yes
Togo	N	Extant	Yes
Uganda	N	Extant	Yes
Zambia	N	Extant	Yes
Zimbabwe	N	Extant	Yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
South Africa	Zululand
Kenya	Mwingi/Kitui/Makueni hilltops and River Valley Landscapes
South Africa	Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park
South Africa	Dronfield
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Grasslands
Kenya	Ol Ari Nyiro
Kenya	Lolldaiga-Mukogodo-Ewaso N'yiro
Kenya	Nairobi National Park
Kenya	Mumoni Hill Forest Reserve
Kenya	Mutitu Forest

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Dams (size unknown)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-		International	Non-trivial	Recent

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Polemaetus bellicosus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2023.