Aquila verreauxii

Verreaux's Eagle is classified as Regionally Extinct (RE). The extinction process occurred in the early 1970s and since then no nesting attempts have been recorded in Israel, (vagrant birds appear in Israel every few years). In the previous edition of the red book (2002), it was also classified as Regionally Extinct (RE).

Habitats	Desert Cliffs, Mediterranean Cliffs
Presence In Israel	Resident
Nesting In Israel	Past Breeder
Migration Types	Resident
Zoography Zones	Mediterranean, Saharo-Arabian, Sudano-Zambezian
Landscape Formations	Mountainous, Cliffs
Vegetation Densities	Low
Nest Locations	Cliffs
Diet Types	Vertebrate
Foraging Grounds	Ground
Body Sizes	Large (over 1000g)
Threat Factors	Direct Persecution

Verreaux's Eagle is a large dark, imposing eagle that inhabits rocky and cliff habitats and specializes in hunting Rock Hyrax. Breeding couples are resident in their territories and often hunt together.

Verreaux's Eagle is today a very rare accidental in the Eilat Mountains, Negev and Judean Desert, mainly in winter. In the previous century, it nested in the Galilee. In 1911, an adult individual was collected at En Gedi (the Schmitz Collection). In 1964, two pairs apparently nested in Nahal Dishon and Nahal Betset in the Upper Galilee. The species has not been recorded in Israel’s Mediterranean region since 1971, but there have been numerous observations from the Eilat Mountains, the Arava Valley and the southern Judean Desert, probably individuals that nested and possibly still breed in Jordan and Northern Sinai (Sela 1975, Paz 1986, Shirihai 1996, Mayrose & Alon 2001).

Mountainous and cliff areas in the Mediterranean and desert regions in Israel.

A number of Verreaux's eagle pairs nested during the 1960s in the Upper Galilee. The reason for their disappearance from the region is unknown, and is probably related to hunting and poisoning. The species was unknown in the Galilee in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, therefore the increase in observations in the Galilee in the 1960s may be related to northward movements, which were apparently made possible by the decreased competition with native raptor species, after the latter were decimated by the intensive pesticide poisonings that occurred in Israel in those years.

• סלע, י. 1975. סקר העופות הדורסים 1970–1975. אוניברסיטת תל-אביב: המכון לחקר שמירת הטבע.
• פז, ע. 1986. עופות. מתוך אלון, ע. (עורך), החי והצומח של ארץ ישראל. כרך 6. הוצאת משרד הביטחון, ישראל.

• Shirihai, H., 1996. The Birds of Israel. Academic Press, London.
• Symes, A. 2013. Species generation lengths. Unpublished, BirdLife International.
• Species page at Birdlife International