• 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)	26,000,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	poor	inferred	1989-2022
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-79%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-79%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-79%	-	-	-
Generation length	11.1 years	-	-	-

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	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, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Liberia	extant	vagrant			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
Kenya	Kirisia Forest
Kenya	Mumoni Hill Forest Reserve
Kenya	Mutitu Forest
Kenya	Nairobi National Park
Kenya	Ol Ari Nyiro
South Africa	Grasslands
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Grasslands

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	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/martial-eagle-polemaetus-bellicosus on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.