Spanish Imperial Eagle

Aquila adalberti

Wingspan

180–210cm

Body length

75–85cm

Weight

2,400–2,900g

Profile

Life expectancy
Clutch size: Usually 2–3 eggs
Global status
Activity
Migration

Identification

Rectangular wings, a strong bill and, in adult plumage, white shoulders. Juveniles are a warm rufous-brown and coloured quite differently from young Eastern Imperial Eagles.

Colours

Plumage

Eyes

Legs & feet

Adult

Dark brown body, cream nape and strikingly white shoulders or leading edges of the wings. The tail base is paler than the terminal band.

Behaviour

Adults keep to their territory all year round. Young birds wander more widely while searching for suitable habitat.

Breeding & rearing

Both partners build the large tree nest. The young hatch after an incubation period of about 44 days; they spend roughly eleven weeks in the nest.

Diet

Prey examples

Rabbits

Rabbits are the most important prey. When they are scarce, pigeons and waterbirds, among others, are caught; carrion is also used.

Occasional

Pigeons

Waterbirds

Hunting

From a lookout or in search flight it spots rabbits and stoops on them. When rabbits are scarce, it takes more birds and other vertebrates.

Distribution

Range

Spain & Portugal

Habitat

Mediterranean oak woodland, open pine forests and open country with rabbits. Large trees provide room for the nest.

Old mixed broadleaf forest with clearings and forest edges — Forests

Open meadows, fields and varied hedgerow landscape — Meadows & fields