Eastern Imperial Eagles – Al Jouf

Whilst birding in the Al Jouf area in late December we came across a number of both Juvenile & adult Eastern Imperial Eagles. We counted a maximum of ten on a single day, mainly seen in the early morning when they flew from their roosting areas. We are used to seeing them perched on pivot irrigation frames or in the pivot fields in the Eastern Province, but we only really saw them in flight in Al Jouf. Most of the large eagles in the Al Jouf area when we visited were Eastern Imperial Eagles with only a single Steppe Eagle seen. At one point there was an interaction between a male Pallid Harrier carrying prey and a juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle, of which I managed to get a couple of phots of both birds together. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, adult mortality through persecution and collisions with power lines and prey depletion. The status in Saudi Arabia appears to be more or less stable, however.

Juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle - Jubail

Whilst birding in the Jubail area in late November we came across a Juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle. We counted ten Great Spotted Eagle, either sitting on the power masts or in the reeds, with a single, much scarcer Eastern Imperial Eagle also noted. The Eastern Imperial Eagle was seen sitting on a mast but flew before we got near to it but luckily only across the track to the next pylon. I maneuvered the car to try to get the light in a good position for photography, but the bird again flew this time directly over the car. It was so close in flight that most of my photos only captured parts of the bird but luckily one (uncropped photo) had all the bird in the frame. It they circled around allowing some more distant photos to be taken in flight. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, adult mortality through persecution and collisions with power lines and prey depletion. The status in Saudi Arabia appears to be more or less stable, however.

Fulvescens Greater Spotted Eagle & Eastern Imperial Eagle – Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area in late November we came across two eagles sitting on a power line mast. One was a fulvescens Greater Spotted Eagle, with this colour type being very uncommon making up a maximum of 3% of the birds seen in the Middle East. Fulvescens is more common in the Middle East than in any other area where it occurs, and when you think how uncommon the species is on a world scale there are not that many fulvescens about worldwide. Greater Spotted Eagle is a regular winter visitor to the Juabil area where up to 15 have been recorded on a single day, but only the occasional fulvensens type are noted, although they are seen most years. The other bird was an immature Eastern Imperial Eagle that was much bigger in size with a much larger bill. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, persecution and prey depletion. Eastern Imperial Eagle is much scarcer than Greater Spotted Eagle in Jubail but birds are seen almost every year. This particular Eastern Imperial Eagle has been around for almost a month which is unusual as normally they are only seen on single days.

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Fulvescens Greater Spotted Eagle

Fulvescens Greater Spotted Eagle

Fulvescens Greater Spotted Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle - Jubail

Whilst birding in the Jubail area 5 November we came across good numbers of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters with more than 30 seen, continuing the good passage of this species this autumn. A single Great Grey Shrike was located with Daurian Shrike numbers still quite high and White Wagtail and Water Pipit numbers both increasing. Two Mallard were located hiding in the reeds, with Great White Egret numbers increasing to 132 birds with over 300 Caspian Terns still remaining from last weeks count of over 500. A lone Black-tailed Godwit and a few Eurasian Curlew were seen on the sabkha edge but wader numbers were down on the last couple of weeks. We counted ten Great Spotted Eagle, either sitting on the power masts or in the reeds, with a single, much scarcer Eastern Imperial Eagle with three Greater Spotted Eagles on one mast.

Black-tailed Godwit

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Daurian Shrike

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Eurasian Curlew

Great Grey Shrike

Eastern Imperial Eagles - Ushaiqer

Whilst birding Ushaiqer waste dump I found at least two Eastern Imperial Eagles. The birds were seen sitting on the ground amongst about fifty Steppe Eagles and allowed close approach in the car. I took the below photos which are some of the best photos I have of the species. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, persecution and prey depletion.

Eastern Imperial and Greater Spotted Eagles - Ushaiqer

Whilst birding the Ushaiqer area northwest of Riyadh, where the worlds largest gathering of Steppe Eagles occurred this winter I also saw a few other eagles. They were very limited in numbers but I did see up to ten Eastern Imperial Eagles and four Greater Spotted Eagles during several trips to the location. The massive number of Steppe Eagles made it somewhat difficult to locate them but the small numbers suggest they are not common in the areas in the winter as surely they would have been feeding on the chicken waste otherwise.

Eastern Imperial Eagle 

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle

Steppe Eagle and Steppe Buzzard – Dumat Al Jandal

Whilst birding Dumat Al Jandal area in winter we came across an Steppe Eagle and a Steppe Buzzard sitting on a pivot irrigation structure. The birds both flew as we stopped the car, even though we were quite a distance from the birds, and then proceeded to have a bit of a scuffle in the air. The Steppe Eagle dwarfed the Steppe Buzzard but it was the Buzzard that was the aggressor. After several minutes, they split up and went their separate ways. Although we saw another Steppe Eagle on the trip this was the only Steppe Buzzard we saw. 

Eastern Imperial Eagle - Jubail

Whilst birding Jubail in November I saw young Eastern Imperial Eagle. The bird was initially seen sitting on the ground but flew due to a car approaching. It only flew a few hundred metres and settled again in a much more open area of sabkha. The light was poor but I got reasonably close to the bird in the car and managed to take a few photos whch are shown below. The species is rarely seen in the area although the Greater Spotted Eagle is seen almost every visit during the winter. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, persecution and prey depletion.

Eastern Imperial Eagle - Haradh

Whilst birding at Haradh recently I saw and photographed an Eastern Imperial Eagle. This site is a regular wintering location for one or two birds that spend much of their time in and around the pivot irrigation fields. They are seldom approachable and normally seen in flight so this bird that flew over and landed in a filed nearby was a chance to get some photos on the ground. The harsh light made getting good photos difficult with my best efforts shown below. The species is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, persecution and prey depletion.