Tracking movement of the Indian Spotted Eagle in lowlands of Nepal using GPS transmitters

©Sandesh Gurung

Indian Spotted Eagle (Clanga hastata) is a globally threatened species and distribution is limited to Indian sub-continent, information is limited to establish appropriate conservation activities.

A recent assessment of threats to Nepal's birds has indicated that this species is declining in Nepal (BCN and DNPWC 2011, Inskipp et al. 2016). Although some information is given on its occurrence in India, its status and movement within Nepal has not been assessed. BirdLife International has also proposed the requirements of further study to identify the distribution and status of Indian Spotted Eagle, including habitat utilization and movements of the species, which justifies the significance and urgency of the project.

Movement information of the species could give useful information on the major areas of activity. This information can be utilized to identify threats and prioritize conservation strategies. In this project, we propose to study movements and home range use by this species in the lowlands of Nepal through the most reliable approach that includes tracking of individual movement using GPS satellite transmitters. Through this project it is aimed to obtain most reliable information in the following questions. 

What is their home range size and how they utilize it?

What is their habitat requirement?

What is the post fledgling behaviour?

Do they go to India further south at any times of their life?

Information obtained from this study will be important to inform/sensitize farming communities and decision makers for the need of its conservation and additionally to support conservation and management plan.