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

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: #http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of _the_WP15.xls#.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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
-	-	A2ace+3ce+4ace

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Vulnerable	A2ace+3ce+4ace
2018	Vulnerable	A2ace+3ce+4ace
2016	Least Concern
2013	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	nomadic	Forest dependency	Low
Land mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	52,700,000
Number of locations		-
Severely Fragmented		-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals	100000-499999	medium	suspected	2018
Population trend	Decreasing		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)	30-49	-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation past and future)	30-49	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations		-	-	-
Percentage in largest subpopulation		-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	13.69	-	-	-

Population justification:

African Raptor DataBank data suggests that given available habitat, of varying suitability, there could be a population size of 73,860 pairs in Africa. Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001) estimated a global population of 100,000-999,999 individuals, with the population in South Asia estimated at between 10,000-99,999 individuals. Therefore, the overall population size is placed here in the range 100,000-499,999 mature individuals.

Trend justification: Declines have been reported from northern, western and southern Africa (Global Raptors Information Network 2015). The Red Data Book of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland assessed the rate of decline as >60% over the past 50 years (Taylor 2015), and in Namibia the decline has been estimated at 63% over 30 years (Simmons 2015) (roughly equating to a decline of 74% over 3 generations [41.07 years]). In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger the population outside protected areas decreased by over 87% between 1969-1973 and 2000-2004 (Thiollay 2006), equating to a decline of c.93% over three generations. In the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya, the population decreased by 28% between 1976-1988 and 2003-2005 (Virani et al. 2011), roughly equivalent to 46% over 3 generations. The population is also thought to have plummeted in south Morocco to the extent that it is considered near to extinction there, but a breeding population possibly remains in Algeria (J. R. Garrido in litt. 2018). Such rapid declines are not seen across the entirety of its African range though, with increases seen in Botswana (Garbett et al. 2018, G. Maude in litt. 2018), and this species does remain the most common eagle in Ethiopia (E. Buechley in litt. 2018). The frequency of reports of Tawny Eagle sightings in India on eBird declined by c.75% during 2000-2018, suggesting that the population may also be declining in this part of the range (SoIB 2020). With steep declines recorded in many areas, but possible increases in others, the global population is suspected to be declining at a rate of 30-49% over three generations.

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Presence	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Algeria	N	Extant	Yes
Angola	N	Extant	Yes
Bangladesh	V	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	N	Extant	Yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	N	Extant	Yes
Côte d'Ivoire	N	Extant	Yes
Djibouti	N	Extant	Yes
Egypt	V	Extant			Yes
Eritrea	N	Extant	Yes
Eswatini	N	Extant	Yes
Ethiopia	N	Extant	Yes
Gabon	N	Extant	Yes
Gambia	N	Extant	Yes
Ghana	N	Extant	Yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	V	Extant			Yes
Guinea	N	Extant	Yes
Guinea-Bissau	N	Extant	Yes
India	N	Extant	Yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	N	Extant	Yes
Israel	V	Extant			Yes
Italy	V	Extant			Yes
Kenya	N	Extant	Yes
Lesotho	V	Extant			Yes
Liberia	V	Extant			Yes
Malawi	N	Extant	Yes
Mali	N	Extant	Yes
Mauritania	N	Extant	Yes
Morocco	N	Extant	Yes
Mozambique	N	Extant	Yes
Myanmar	V	Extant		Yes
Namibia	N	Extant	Yes
Nepal	N	Extant	Yes
Niger	N	Extant	Yes
Nigeria	N	Extant	Yes
Oman	V	Extant			Yes
Pakistan	N	Extant	Yes
Rwanda	N	Extant	Yes
Saudi Arabia	N	Extant	Yes
Senegal	N	Extant	Yes
Sierra Leone	V	Extant			Yes
Somalia	N	Extant	Yes
South Africa	N	Extant	Yes
South Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Tanzania	N	Extant	Yes
Thailand	V	Extant			Yes
Togo	N	Extant	Yes
Tunisia	V	Extant			Yes
Uganda	N	Extant	Yes
Vietnam	V	Extant	Yes
Yemen	N	Extant	Yes
Zambia	N	Extant	Yes
Zimbabwe	N	Extant	Yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
South Africa	Zululand
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Bahu Kalat (Gandu) Protected Area
South Africa	Ndumo Game Reserve
India	Jor Beer

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	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
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant 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%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Climate change & severe weather	Droughts	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Other options	Other threat	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

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

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Aquila rapax. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 28/03/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 28/03/2023.