Taxon name
Clanga clanga
(Pallas, 1811)
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Clanga clanga
(Pallas, 1811)
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Birds
Species authority
(Pallas, 1811)
Taxonomic notes and synonyms listed
Clanga clanga;(del Hoyo and Collar 2014);was previously placed in the genus Aquila.
Location and scope
Specific locality or subnational name or regional name
United Arab Emirates (the)
Scope (of the Assessment)
National
Countries included within the scope of the assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Qualifying criteria (if given)
D
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
This species has a very small non-breeding population in the UAE, which qualifies it for listing as Endangered. The population is increasing within the UAE. However, on a global scale, the species is listed as Vulnerable, as its small population is in rapid decline. Therefore, breeding populations outside of the country may not have a large rescue effect. Given the global situation, a regional adjustment has not been made and the species is retained as Endangered at the national level.
Assessment details
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Criteria system used
IUCN
Reference for methods given
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Further information
Endemism (according to assessment)
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
This species occurs in the UAE from late September to late April (Pedersen et al. 2017). Part of the population winters along the coast, while another part only passes through the country during migration to and from the breeding grounds, when it also occurs further inland (Richardson 1990, Pedersen et al. 2017).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species is found near coastal wetlands during winter, e.g. in mangroves, on inshore islands, in lagoons and mudflats (Richardson 1990, Aspinall and Porter 2011), it may also occur in agricultural areas (e.g. fodder fields and plantations). On passage, the species also occurs in wetlands further inland, such as marshes, but also near rubbish dumps (Richardson 1990). There is no information available on its diet in the UAE; elsewhere it feeds on unretrieved quarry, small mammals, waterbirds, frogs and snakes, hunting over swamps, wet meadows and over agricultural land(A. Làµhmus in litt. 1999); birds soar to c.100 m high when hunting. It is a migratory species. Birds breeding in central Asia winter in the UAE or migrate further south along the Arabian Peninsula until north-east Africa (del Hoyo et al. 1994). The species arrives at the non-breeding grounds in September and leaves again between February and April (Pedersen et al. 2017). The species migrates on a broad front, tending to pass in singles, twos and threes with the occasional larger group (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001). Individuals do not concentrate at bottleneck sites to the extent of many other raptors, such as Lesser Spotted Eagle Clanga pomarina (del Hoyo et al. 1994).
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Within the UAE artificial habitats that favour this species within the UAE may be transient, so monitoring of such habitats will be important. However, as a migratory species, the key threats to Greater Spotted Eagle appear to come from outside of the UAE, and so threats from outside of the country need to be taken into account.;There is strong evidence of hybridisation between this species and Lesser Spotted Eagle Clanga pomarina (Bergmanis et al. 1997, Lohmus and Vali 2001, Dombrovski 2002, Vali et al. 2010). In some European countries mixed pairs can constitute 50% of Greater Spotted Eagle pairs (Maciorowski and Mizera 2010) or even more (Vali 2011). It is unclear whether this represents a new phenomenon or a conservation concern, but C. pomarina is far more numerous than C. clanga in the zone of overlap, and the range of C. pomarina appears to be spreading east, further into the range of C. clanga. Other key threats are habitat destruction and disturbance, also poaching and electrocution can be considered important. Suitable habitat mosaics have been lost as a result of afforestation and wetland drainage. In eastern Europe, agricultural intensification and the abandonment of traditional floodplain management have reduced habitat quality (A. Làµhmus in litt. 1999).;Birds are intolerant of permanent human presence in their territories. Forestry operations are a major cause of disturbance. Shooting, deliberate and accidental poisoning are a threat to this species in several areas across its global range, including Russia, the Mediterranean, South-East Asia and Africa (per;P. D. Round in litt. 1998, P. Mirski in litt. 2012). In Israel, poisoning and electrocution are major causes for casualties of wintering population (Perlman and Granit 2012).
History
This species has increased its population size since 1996 due to increasing availability of suitable irrigated habitat, and it is suspected that the population size may have been sufficiently small in 1996 that it would have warranted a listing as Critically Endangered under criterion D then, whereas now (2019) it is assessed as Endangered.
Publication
Burfield, I.J., Westrip, J., Sheldon, R.D., Hermes, C., Wheatley, H., Smith, D., Harding, K.A. Allen, D.J. and Alshamsi, O. 2021. UAE National Red List of Birds. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
