The short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus) is one of ‘most interesting and least known raptors that inhabits our country’, according to SEO/BirdLife.
They note that it is a ‘considerable size’ (wing span 160-175 cm) and ‘has the peculiarity of feeding on prey which is difficult to hunt and very aggressive’; namely snakes.
This bird is skilled at ‘detecting, trapping and swallowing’ its quarry.
According to Raptors Europea, one of its adaptations for catching snakes is the evolution of short talons which are ideal for gripping serpents.
It hunts in open country, soaring at high altitudes or hovering to search for prey, which are mostly grass snakes and some venemous varities; and can also be lizards, frogs, and mammals.
It drops like a stone to hit its prey.
SEO/BirdLife explain that due to its unique diet only small numbers of short-toed eagles are usually found in any particular area.
This migratory raptor inhabits much of the Iberian Peninsula; the largest populations can be found the coastal mountain ranges of Cataluña, north Valencia region, Sierra Morena, Montes de Toledo and the province of Cáceres.
It requires woods for nesting, or uses cliffs in some cases.
Migration
SEO/BirdLife notes that it leaves the areas in which it breeds ‘in order to install itself in the tropical savanas of Africa’ during the autumn.
However, some birds can still be seen in the south-west of Spain during the winter, they add.
The European population was estimated at between 19,800 and 31,900 pairs in 2021, ‘with a tendency to increase’.
Around 60% of the European population reproduces on the Iberian Peninsula.
The photo shows a short-toed eagle that was released in Andalucía in May, 2024 after recovering from dehydration in the Marismas del Odiel fauna centre.
The regional environment department noted that they are very territorial birds which return to the area where they were raised ‘year after year’ in order to reproduce.
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