Two eagles were fitted with GPS trackers — one flew nearly 12,000 km, whilst the other stopped transmitting

Two small GPS trackers enabled scientists to track the migration of birds of prey between Asia and Africa, step by step. A booted eagle, tagged in Turkey, travelled 5,080.6 km to Uganda in the autumn, and in the spring flew a further 6,785.7 km to its breeding grounds in Russia.

The second bird in the study – a steppe eagle – travelled 4,409.6 km to Sudan in 38 days. There, its transmitter suddenly stopped working. Scientists do not know what happened: the device may have fallen off or broken down, but the possibility that the bird died cannot be ruled out.

Details

GPS-GSM transmitters were fitted to two birds at an ornithological station near the Aras River in north-eastern Turkey. The Lesser Spotted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) was tagged in September 2021, and the Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) in September 2022. The latter had previously been seized by the authorities from poachers.

The Lesser Spotted Eagle travelled via the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and spent the winter near Mount Elgon in Uganda. In the spring, it largely retraced the same route in the opposite direction and reached its breeding grounds in Russia. In total, the two recorded migrations covered almost 11,900 km.

According to the authors, this is the first satellite tracking of this species in the East Asian–East African migration corridor.

The steppe eagle behaved differently. Instead of the ‘loop’ route via Bab el-Mandeb typical of the species, it passed through the Suez Canal area. Upon arrival at its wintering grounds in Sudan, its transmitter ceased to transmit data; consequently, its spring route remains unknown.

Using GPS coordinates, the researchers also observed stopovers in areas heavily altered by humans: near rubbish dumps, agricultural land and towns. This may suggest that such areas play a role during migration; however, it is not possible to draw conclusions about an entire species based on just two birds.

Why this is important

The East Asian–East African flyway crosses more than 60 countries and is used by hundreds of bird species. Narrow sections of the route in the Middle East are particularly dangerous for large birds of prey, where natural barriers are compounded by hunting, trapping, power lines, pesticides and habitat loss.

Satellite tracking reveals not just a hypothetical arrow on a map, but specific stopover sites, routes around water barriers and areas where birds congregate. Such data can help us understand which areas are truly critical for migration.

However, the study has a significant limitation: it is based on just two individuals — one of each species. Therefore, the unusual route taken by the steppe eagle or stopovers near towns cannot be considered typical behaviour for the entire population. Rather, the study illustrates the routes taken by specific birds and identifies locations that warrant further investigation using larger sample sizes.

Source

Study: “Where eagles dare: tracking data reveals migratory pathways of booted and steppe eagles in the East Asia–East Africa Flyway”. Authors: Nathan Murthy, Kyle D. Kittelberger, Kayahan Ağırkaya, Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu. Journal: Zoology in the Middle East, 2026. Published on 28 July 2026.