Feb 28th, 2019 : Steppe Eagles

[xoxoxoBruce]

No, they aren't adopted they cruise the steppes, that's commie for plains.

It is about 62–81 cm (24–32 in) in length and has a wingspan of 1.65–2.15 m (5.4–7.1 ft). Females, weighing 2.3–4.9 kg (5.1–10.8 lb), are slightly larger than males, at 2–3.5 kg (4.4–7.7 lb). This is a large eagle with brown upperparts and blackish flight feathers and tail. This species is larger and darker than the tawny eagle, and it has a pale throat which is lacking in that species. Immature birds are less contrasted than adults, but both show a range of variation in plumage colour. The eastern subspecies A. n. nipalensis is larger and darker than the European and Central Asian A. n. orientalis.
The call of the steppe eagle sounds like a crow barking, but it is rather a silent bird.

Since these big birds sail over the Iron Curtain and back they are of interest to people who love spending money, especially
to defend truth, justice and the right way.

Sixteen Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis were fitted with satellite transmitters during migration or on their wintering grounds (15 in Saudi Arabia, one in South Africa). From these 16 birds, a total of 3,734 location co-ordinates were received.
Adult and immature Steppe Eagle migration strategies were markedly different in terms of timing (adults returned to breeding territories in southern Russia and Kazakhstan in late March and early April, whereas immatures arrived in mid May) but not in terms of route and wintering area. Immatures remained on the wintering grounds for substantially longer than adults, typically for about six months.
An adult took almost eight weeks to cover 9,543 km from Botswana to Kazakhstan, averaging 177 km daily. The longest mean daily flight distance among all tracked individuals was approximately 355 km.
In 1998, an adult male was recorded through a complete annual cycle; it spent 31.5% of the period in the wintering area in Ethiopia and Sudan, 41.9% in the breeding area in Kazakhstan, and 26.6% on migration.

link

[Diaphone Jim]

OH, the places you will go!
And, with your eyesight, the things that you will see.