Steppe Eagle

now globally ENDANGERED

Steppe Eagle, Ulaanbaatar, May 2011. © M. Putze

In the 2015 Global IUCN Red List for birds the Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis, formerly treated as “Least Concern”, has been listed for the first time, under the threat category “Endangered”.

Steppe Eagle, Ulaanbaatar, May 2011. © M. Putze

From the BirdLife species fact sheet:

Justification
This species has undergone extremely rapid population declines within its European range. The majority of its range lies outside Europe where it was not thought to be declining at a sufficiently rapid rate to approach the threshold for Vulnerable. However recent information suggests that the population outside Europe may be exposed to greater threats than was previously thought and has also undergone very rapid recent declines across much of the range. It is therefore classified as Endangered.

Steppe Eagle, Bale Mountain National Park,

Ethiopia, Jan 2014. © M. Putze

Steppe Eagle, Bale Mountain National Park,

Ethiopia, Jan 2014. © M. Putze

Further changes involving species occurring in Mongolia:

formerly least concern, now near threatened:

• Northern Lapwing (migrant breeder)
• Bar-tailed Godwit (rare passage migrant)
• Red Knot (rare passage migrant)
• Curlew Sandpiper (common passage migrant)
• Red-necked Stint (abundant passage migrant)

• Redwing (scarce passage migrant)

Uplisted from least concern to Vulnerable:

• Common Pochard (migrant breeder and passage migrant
• Horned (or Slavonian) Grebe (migrant breeder and passage migrant)
• European Turtle Dove (possible very rare migrant breeder)

Uplisted from “Vulnerable” to “Endangered”

• Far Eastern Curlew (rare passage migrant)