May is Migration and early breeding time in Romania´s Black Sea coast. Thus it is prime birdwatching time. After having seen many of the speciality birds like Pelicans, Black-necked and Red-necked Grebes, Glossy Ibises, Spoonbills in the Danube Delta, a small group of bird photographers went for the Dobrudgea
– organized by Sakertours. A big surprise was, what you see on the pictures: a juvenile Imperial Eagle. Here you can see Imperial Eagle in flight. Photographed in the nice countryside of Romania near the city of Constanta. The eagle was flying from the east along the northern limits of the Cheile Dobrogei – the Dobrogei Gorge. After having seen (young) Imperial Eagle in Oman on several occasions, the identification was not too difficult.
The Imperial Eagle is sparsely distributed from central, south-east and eastern Europe east to Lake Baikal in Russia. In Europe it occurs as a breeding species in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine. Breeding population figures for of the Imperial Eagle in Romania counted 10–20 pairs gathered in a workshop held in Királyrét /Hungary in 1993. The
book „Greifvögel“ by Benny Génsbøl und Walter Thiede show something more than 1 pair for Romania.
The adult eagles are partially migratory, with some birds moving south or south-east, though in severe winters Europe may be totally vacated. The young are fully migratory and winter in Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey and Yemen (Cramp and Simmons 1980, Evans 1994). They prefer large open arid dry terrain.
To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic, Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic. Trips to remote places to capture images of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. Part of the images gained are photos of Red-necked Grebe, Great White Pelican, Dalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant, Glossy Ibis, Isabelline and Pied Wheatear and Ortolan Bunting. This flight image of an Imperial Eagle is only a first impression, what you will find in the gallery in the “Pictures Shop” very soon. Just give me a message, if I could serve you with an image needed before the new pictures are online.
Other successful shootings you can see under: www.bird-lens.com.