Aquila chrysaetos
Aquila chrysaetos
At the global scale, it is a species with a very wide distribution across the Holarctic (BirdLife International, 2024). In Europe, it occupies much of the countries around the Mediterranean and central mountain systems (Alps, Carpathians), as well as Scotland and Fennoscandia (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain, it is distributed throughout the country and is more abundant in the main mountain ranges, including the Mediterranean coastal ranges; it is also present in flat areas of the Castilian plateaus and near coastal zones. In the Balearic Islands, it became extinct in the 1970s and is also absent from the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla (Bautista in SEO/BirdLife, 2022).
In Madrid, although the population is not abundant, it is widely distributed, being scarcer at low altitudes, in the south and southeast of the region (Díaz et al., 1994; SEO/BirdLife, 2022).
Within the national park, it is not abundant, and its territories have varied slightly over the last decades. Although they vary over time, they remain between 3 and 6 territories in traditional locations (Del Moral, 2009).
The golden eagle generally breeds in rocky areas, although nests in trees are not uncommon. It is more closely associated with mountains than other eagles, but it is not rare in the valleys of the autonomous community. It avoids dense and extensive forests, intensively cultivated areas, and zones with high human activity. Thus, in addition to cliffs and mature forests in the Sierra de Madrid, it is common in patches of sclerophyllous vegetation and crop mosaics, avoiding irrigated and agricultural lands (Soutullo et al., 2008), although it is frequent in dryland crop mosaics with Mediterranean shrub patches and pines, where rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), red partridges (Alectoris rufa), and other prey are abundant (Bautista, 2024).
Within the park, it occupies rocky areas for nesting and only occasionally uses trees. It hunts in open areas, even at high altitudes, where it is frequently observed.
At the global scale, it is considered in the Least Concern category (LC; 2021). In Europe, it would also be classified in the same category (LC; 2021); in Spain, it is listed as Near Threatened (NT).
The Catalogue of Threatened Species of the Community of Madrid (1992) lists it in the category Sensitive to Habitat Alteration.
Bautista, J. 2024. The Golden Eagle in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). En Ellis, D. H., Bautista, J. y Ellis, C. (eds.): The Golden Eagle Around the World. A Monograph of an Holarctic Raptor. Hancock House Publishers. Surrey.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Calderón, J., Delibes, M. y Amores, F. 1977. Ecología y status del águila real (Aquila chrysaetos) en España. Actas de la I Reunión Iberoamericana de Zoólogos de Vertebrados. CSIC. La Rábida.
Del Moral, J. C. (ed.). 2009. El águila real en España, población reproductora en 2008 y método de censo. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
SEO/BirdLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A, Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R. Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Soutullo, A., Urios, V., Ferrer, M. y López-López, P. 2008. Habitat use by juvenile Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos in Spain. Bird Study, 55: 236–240.