When species conservation bears fruit - the fascinating journeys of the Austrian imperial eagle

26 years ago, the imperial eagle returned to Austria as a breeding bird after an absence of over 200 years. Merciless persecution through shooting and poison as well as the use of pesticides brought it to the brink of extinction throughout Central Europe. However, not least due to conservation efforts, populations have unexpectedly recovered over the last 25 years. Nevertheless, with around 50 breeding pairs, it is still a very rare bird species and is considered endangered.

BirdLife Austria works tirelessly to protect the majestic eagles and, thanks to intensive research, has precise insights into their lives and migratory movements.

What data was collected

Some of the animals travel enormous distances (often over 300 kilometers a day and sometimes more than 50,000 kilometers until they settle as breeding birds). The Austrian eagles fitted with transmitters have already visited 24 European countries since the beginning.

Since the imperial eagle returned to Austria as a breeding bird in 1999, the nature and bird conservation organization BirdLife Austria has been working to protect this globally endangered species.

In order to enable successful protection of the imperial eagle at national and international level, the necessary basic knowledge is also being collected: In addition to the breeding locations, the breeding success, number of young, causes of death, food and habitat of the rare eagle species are also being investigated.

Exciting insights Insight into the life of the imperial eagle was gained through the use of GPS transmitters: The small transmitters, weighing just a few dozen grams, which the bird carries on a kind of rucksack, enable BirdLife Austria's bird of prey experts to track it with pinpoint accuracy.

To date, more than 50 young eagles have been fitted with GPS transmitters at their parents' eyrie shortly before fledging. The tagging not only makes it possible to identify causes of endangerment such as illegal persecution by humans, but also to trace the individual journeys and life histories of our native imperial eagles.

Individual life stories

"One of the first findings was that the behavior of imperial eagles differs greatly from animal to animal. While one young bird flies to Greece in its first winter, the other spends most of its time in the Weinviertel region," says Matthias Schmidt from BirdLife Austria. "Each of these life journeys is a story in itself." The fact that these often do not end happily is shown by the high death rate due to illegal persecution.

BirdLife Austria is committed to bird and nature conservation in Austria and across borders. BirdLife Austria implements scientifically based nature and bird conservation projects in four core areas: Species conservation, habitats, sustainability and awareness-raising. BirdLife Austria is a partner of BirdLife International, the world's largest active network of nature and bird conservation organizations with over 2.7 million members in 120 countries.

"The shooting of Artemisia, who had previously flown over half of Europe and delighted many people with her sight, was certainly one of the saddest life stories," says Schmidt. But there are also very beautiful ones, such as that of the imperial eagle lady Esperanza, who is already 12 years old in 2024 and has successfully bred nine young birds. Young imperial eagles are very busy, especially in their first few years. Imperial eagle Rudi, for example, has already visited 12 countries since leaving his parents' territory in 2023, covering more than 30,000 kilometers in flight. Daily flight distances of over 300 kilometers are not uncommon.

The different personalities are also easily recognizable here. While some individuals have their daily routine and only travel in very small areas, there are others that repeatedly undertake long reconnaissance flights over hundreds of kilometers, even as breeding birds. A success story in bird conservation The return of the imperial eagle is certainly one of the success stories for bird conservation in Austria.

Despite the encouraging development, the population is still comparatively small and fragile with around 50 breeding pairs.

The Imperial Eagle must therefore still be considered endangered and has not yet reached a favorable conservation status. Illegal human persecution and the expansion of wind turbines in core areas are currently the two greatest threats to the species.

BirdLife Austria will therefore continue to campaign for the imperial eagle. Be it by consistently combating illegal persecution of birds of prey, as is currently the case in the wildLIFEcrime project (https://wildlifecrime.info), or by playing a constructive role in shaping a nature-friendly energy transition.

Imperial eagles are strictly protected in Austria and throughout the European Union and are globally endangered. As part of the EU-funded "wildLIFEcrime" project (LIFE22-GIE-DE-wildLIFEcrime), BirdLife Austria is working with 12 project partners from Germany and Austria (including the Federal Criminal Police Office, WWF and Vetmeduni) to combat the illegal killing of wild animals. If you have found an injured or dead bird of prey and suspect wildlife crime, please report this to 0660 869 23 27 (also anonymously) or meldung@wildlifecrime.at.