Serpent and Booted Eagle Conservation

Large raptors are often species of high conservation concern, and this is particularly true for the serpent and booted eagle groups. We are reviewing the status and conservation of these eagles. Because so little is known or published for many of the species in these groups we are seeking comment from other researchers and conservationists with knowledge of these species, particularly those that are not well known.

Eagle taxonomy is changing. We considered 61 eagle species in the (current and historical) genera: Eutriorchis, Spilornis, Pithecophaga, Terathopius, Circaetus, Dryotriorchis, Nisaetus, Stephanoatus, Spizaetus, Hieraaetus, Polemaetus, Lophaetus, Ictinaetus, and Aquila. We recorded, in parentheses, the old names for genera/species to avoid confusion. Our main aim was to assemble information that would be useful for conservation. Phylogeny and taxonomy for us are tools of conservation, and their main function are to identify genetic assemblages (species) upon which most conservation is based, and to promote communication between researchers and conservationists. Some of the species we list are not recognized as valid by others.

The primary sources of information for our review were the Global Raptor Information Network (GRIN)(The Peregrine Fund, Inc http://www.globalraptors.org/grin/indexAlt.asp), the IUCN Red List Database (http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/search-expert.php), Raptors of the World (ROW)(Ferguson-Lees et al 2001), and Birds of the World (BOW) (del Hoyo et al 1999). Other published and unpublished information were used.

Table 1 summarizes our results on species status and population estimates and trends. We are seeking comment on these data from other researchers and conservationists. If you have a comment, correction or addition to our table, please fill in the appropriate boxes below. Eventually, we hope to publish these data in the peer-reviewed literature. We will acknowledge all who have contributed to the final manuscript. We may contact you for clarification of the information you provide. Thank you.

Notes for the table:
Distribution: “Continental (C), Large Island (LI) or Small Island (SI)
Estimated Population Size: Number of individuals) [GRIN unless otherwise noted]

* = monotypic, () = number of subspecies ¹ Gamauf et al. 2005, ² Preleuthner & Gamauf 1998, ³ Gjershaug in prep ⁴ Gjershaug 2006.