Steppe Eagle

The steppe eagle is a large bird of prey, 60–89 cm long, mainly dark brown with a longish but very thick neck and a relatively small head with a strong bill and long gape line. It looks long-winged, with a longish, rather rounded tail and well-feathered, almost dishevelled-looking legs. In one sample males weighed a mean of 2.48 kg and females 3.56 kg (Wikipedia, general species account).

It undertakes a massive migration from essentially its entire breeding range, moving en masse past major flyways, especially those of the Middle East, Red Sea and Himalaya, and in south Asia it winters in much of the Indian subcontinent. On the breeding ground it is a specialised predator of ground squirrels, taking other small mammals more often when squirrels are scarce. In treeless steppe it tends to nest on a slight rise in a rather flat nest, and one to three eggs are laid. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority: a winter migrant of non-specialised habitat with a Large range and an inconclusive long-term trend of about −31% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).