page_title: Steppe eagle
section_title: Nests
hierarchical_section_title: Steppe eagle / Breeding / Nests
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Степной орел (Aquila nipalensis). Пуховой птенец в гнезде на скальном развале на склоне гряды. Юго-восточный Алтай, хр. Сайлюгем
context_page_description: The steppe eagle is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The steppe eagle’s well-feathered legs illustrate it to be a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, also known as the “booted eagles”. This species was once considered to be closely related to the non-migratory tawny eagle and the two forms have previously been treated as conspecific. They were split based on pronounced differences in morphology and anatomy; two molecular studies, each based on a very small number of genes, indicate that the species are distinct but disagree over how closely related they are.
  The steppe eagle is in many ways a peculiar species of eagle. It is a specialized predator of ground squirrels on the breeding ground, also taking other rather small mammals and other prey, doing so more often when ground squirrels are less consistently found. In rather treeless areas of the steppe habitats, these eagles tend to nest on a slightly rise, often on or near an outcrop, but may even the flat, wide-open ground, in a rather flat nest. They are the only eagle to nest primarily on the ground.
context_section_description: The nest is a large stick platform, varying greater in size based on available materials but averaging flatter than those of other Aquila eagles, excepting the tawny eagle. Most nests are around 70 to 100 cm (28 to 39 in) in diameter and around 20 to 50 cm (7.9 to 19.7 in) deep. Nests in the Transbaikal averaged 118 cm (46 in) across with nests located on cliffs or rocks getting larger at up to 50 to 85 cm (20 to 33 in) deep. In the Sarastov area, 14 nests measured on average 92 cm (36 in) in diameter by 27 cm (11 in) in depth, with ranges of 80 to 125 cm (31 to 49 in) and 15 to 35 cm (5.9 to 13.8 in), respectively. Nests in Xinjiang could react diameters of as much as 180 cm (71 in). The largest nest in the southern Aktobe region reached a diameter of 2.4 m (7.9 ft); while height of the nest could vary there from 10 to 90 cm (3.9 to 35.4 in) those in trees could reach up to 80 to 106 cm (31 to 42 in). The nest is generally lined with twigs and much clutter. This is due to sparser nesting material in their habitat, so nest structures frequently include peculiar items: paper, polyethylene bags, pieces of wool and manure, bones, feathers, old rags and other human refuse. The nest is traditionally place in an exposed site among stones, often on a hummock. Other nesting sites can include very low bushes and a spot on the ground which is usually raised slightly above the mean layout of the environment. Some other nest sites are known have including haystacks or ruins for a slight prominence, also sometimes rarely on a non-steep cliff or in a tree. Although some older studies claimed that steppe eagles avoided nesting near human activity this has been largely disproven. In Kalmykia, all nests were only 50 to 100 m (160 to 330 ft) from paved roads. A nest in the West Kazakhstan Region was found to quite close to a village. However, in Transbaikal, the conversion of areas to farmland was a primary cause of a large population contraction there. Of 14 nests in Kalmykia, 10 were located on the ground and 4 were in trees or shrubs, not to mention some located on transmission towers at a mean nest height of 11.7 m (38 ft). In Transbaikal, 53.7% of 47 nests were on hills. Those located on rocky outcrops in Transbaikal, averaged 1.95 m (6.4 ft) above the mean ground level. In the region of Lake Baskunchak, most of 16 nests found for the species were on rocky rubble and boulders, karst craters and cliffs, with two located on trees. In the Altai region, 62.4% of territories contained only one nest but 27.4% contained 1 alternate nests, 4.7% contained 2 alternate nests and 5.9% contained 3 alternate nests. A study in Altai determined that nests were often in virgin or fallow steppe near larch forests, and were often reused in subsequent years. The location of Altai nests were on gently sloping rocky outcrops, or cuesta escarpments, mostly, which were about 82% of known nest sites (with only 4% on flat ground) In the borderlands of Kazakhstan and Russia, of 418 total nests, 75.6% of nests were on ledges of rocks and boulders or quartz ridges and only 15.8% were on flat ground. Within the region of Atyrau in Kazakhstan, 26% of raptor nests located on electrical transmission towers (or pylons) were those of steppe eagles. 38% of nests in the Aral-Caspian region were either on pylons or at the base of them. In the Karaganda Region, 75.6% of nests were on outcrops and a further 10.84% were on rock disintegrations, and all nest sites had a rocky substrate (including a very small amount on low bushes as well). The Karaganda nests were at a mean elevation of 528.7 m (1,735 ft). In the general West Kazakhstan Region, of 286 nests 30.42% were on ground or rocks, 28.32% in trees or bushes and27.27% on utility poles.  The nests in the West Kazakh area that were on rocks and cliffs averaged 10.55 m (34.6 ft) above the ground, those on poles averaged 13 m (43 ft) above ground, in trees and those in bushes averaged 2.09 m (6.9 ft) above the ground. One nest near the Ili River was noted to be a small tree, Haloxylon, while another was a perhaps dangerous
caption: Elevated portions of land, whether rocky or not, are the typical nesting site for steppe eagles.
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