Circaetus gallicus
Circaetus gallicus
At the global scale, it is distributed across Mediterranean and temperate latitudes of the western and central Palearctic, the Middle East, and India (BirdLife International, 2024). In Europe, it occurs in the Mediterranean peninsulas and France, and more locally in Belarus, Ukraine, and the Caucasus (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain, it is common, though not abundant, throughout the territory except for part of Galicia. It is present in Ceuta and Melilla, but has not been recorded as a breeder in the Balearic or Canary Islands (Salgado in SEO/BirdLife, 2022). The population is estimated to be around 10,000 individuals (Palomino and Valls, 2011).
In Madrid, it is a scarce raptor, mainly distributed in the foothills and occasionally elsewhere in the territory.
Within the national park, it is detected only occasionally, as it is not a raptor typical of high altitudes, and the observations recorded possibly do not correspond to breeding areas, since it performs large foraging movements. There are favorable habitats in the La Pedriza area and near Hoyo de Manzanares, where it is possible that some pairs breed; nests are very difficult to detect.
It is a raptor closely associated with tree cover, where it builds its nests, and with agroforestry mosaics and open wooded areas with available reptiles (Aragón and Sánchez-Fernández, 2013; Moreno-Rueda and Pizarro, 2007; Ontiveros, 2016).
In the national park, the most favorable areas with low-altitude conifer forests and wooded mosaics are located in the southeastern part of the protected area.
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 also considered in the Near Threatened category (NT).
The Catalogue of Threatened Species of the Community of Madrid (1992) includes it in the ‘Of Special Interest’ category.
Aragón, P. y Sánchez-Fernández, D. 2013. Can we disentangle predator-prey interactions from species distributions at a macro-scale? A case study with raptor species. Oikos, 122: 64-72.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
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.
Moreno-Rueda, G. y Pizarro, M. 2007. Snake species richness and shrubland correlate with the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus) distribution in southeastern Spain. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 44: 314-320.
Ontiveros, D. 2016. Culebrera Europea – Circaetus gallicus. En Salvador, A. y Morales, M. B. (eds.): Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. Madrid
Palomino, D. y Valls, J. 2011. Las rapaces forestales en España. Población reproductora en 2009-2010 y método de censo. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
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.