Steppe Eagle

Aquila nipalensis orientalis (Cabanis, 1854)

		juvenile flying juvenile
2014-10-09 South Kazakhstan, Azatlyk village. 2013-09-28 Kanshengel village, Almaty region	© Yevgeny Belousov © Vassiliy Fedorenko

Description

The somewhat lighter and lesser subspecies. Male wing length 515-560 (535), female 550-605 (575) mm.

Distribution

Widespread occurs on nesting, breeds in north to Uralsk, Naurzum steppes, Tengiz-Kurgaldzhinskaya depression, Krasnokutsk village in Pavlodar Trans-Irtysh area, Semipalatinsk and Kalbinskiy Alai; eastward to Zaysan depression, foothills of Tarbagatay ridge, Dzhungarskiy Alatau and Sogety valley, where appears only in recent decade. In eastern Kazakhstan intergrades with nipalensis. Vagrants observed in north from breeding range, at Markakol lake recorded 8 June 1876. Winters in Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve (1991/92) and on Chardara reservoir, where three birds were recorded 18-21 December 2003.

References

Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. В.К.Рябицев. "Птицы Урала, Приуралья и Западной Сибири". Екатеринбург. Изд-во Уральского университета, 2000.