• 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
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Least Concern
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	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	25,200,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	12.3 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population for this species has not been directly quantified, but evidence from across its range suggests populations are stable to increasing. In Tanzania, surveys in 1995 found African Fish-eagles at a density of 4 birds/km along the shoreline of the south west corner of Lake Victoria, with an additional 621 birds on Rubondo Island. The overall Tanzanian population may equal 15,000 - 20,000 individuals (N. Baker, in litt. 2020). At Lake Hawassa in Ethiopia, surveys in 2018 found 47 individuals along a 16km transect, indicating that the Rift Valley lakes in Ethiopia could harbour hundreds or even thousands of breeding African Fish-eagles (E. Buechley in litt. 2020). Similarly in Kenya, surveys between 2010-2018 indicated that populations in the Rift Valley there were increasing (P. Gacheru in litt. 2020). In 2017, at Lake Naivasha, 245 adults were observed over 68km of shoreline, and more recent surveys have found more than 300 mature individuals (S. Kapila in litt. 2020). In South Africa, reporting rates increased by 43% between SABAP1 in 1987-1992 and SABAP2 in 2007-2020 (D. Ogada and P. Shaw, in litt. 2020).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes
Congo	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	vagrant			yes
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Gabon	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Liberia	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	resident
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Brackish/Saline Lagoons/Marine Lakes	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Freshwater Lakes	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Lakes	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Domestic & urban waste water - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: African Fish-eagle Haliaeetus vocifer. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/african-fish-eagle-haliaeetus-vocifer on 23/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/12/2024.