Editing Eastern imperial eagle (section)

===Interspecies predatory relationships===
The eastern imperial eagle is a powerful bird of prey but frequently overlaps in range with multiple other eagle species and that may require them to share both habitats and prey.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/> The [[golden eagle]] is generally a larger, more powerful bird. It also tends to be a bolder, more aggressive predator than the imperial eagle and may be able to attack much larger prey. While the mean prey body mass relative to the eagle's weight is probably similar between the two species, an estimated 15% of golden eagle prey will weigh over {{convert|5|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Watson/><ref name= Ellis>Ellis, D. H., Tsengeg, P., Whitlock, P., & Ellis, M. H. (2000). ''Predators as prey at a Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos eyrie in Mongolia''. Ibis, 142(1), 141-142.</ref><ref>Kerley, L. L., & Slaght, J. C. (2013). ''First documented predation of Sika deer (Cervus nippon) by Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) in Russian far east''. Journal of Raptor Research, 47(3), 328-331.</ref><ref>Phillips, R. L., Cummings, J. L., Notah, G., & Mullis, C. (1996). ''Golden eagle predation on domestic calves''. Wildlife Society (USA).</ref> In its very extensive range, the golden eagle's distribution includes nearly all areas occupied by breeding eastern imperial eagles. Furthermore, there is considerable overlap in prey species selected by these species.<ref name= Watson/><ref name= Katzner3>Katzner, T. E., Bragin, E. A., Knick, S. T., & Smith, A. T. (2003). ''Coexistence in a multispecies assemblage of eagles in central Asia''. The Condor, 105(3), 538-551.</ref><ref name= Vazhov>Vazhov, S. V. (2012). ''Some Features of the Ecological Niches of Raptors in the Russian Part of the Altai Foothills''. Raptors Conservation, (25).</ref> There is a natural partitioning between the two ''Aquila'' species and that comes in the form of habitat preferences. The golden eagle takes to, usually but not always, rocky and uneven terrain, so favors mountainous areas with alpine meadows to access for prey. This is quite different from the eastern imperial eagle's preference for a flat or somewhat rolling interface between wood stands and fields at low elevations.<ref name= Katzner4>Katzner, T. E., Bragin, E. A., & Milner-Gulland, E. J. (2006). ''Modelling populations of long-lived birds of prey for conservation: a study of imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca) in Kazakhstan''. Biological Conservation, 132(3), 322-335.</ref><ref name= Marti>MARTI, C. D., & KORPIMÁKI, E. (2012). ''TROPHIC STRUCTURE OF RAPTOR COMMUNITIES: A THREE-CONTINENT''. Current Ornithology, 10, 47.</ref> However, in some areas, especially eastern Europe, eastern imperial eagles have been driven to higher elevations and more montane habitats that are typically the haunts of golden eagles by persecution, habitat destruction, and other interferences by humans, usually with mixed to minor success as the golden species is scarce at best locally and unlikely to produce competition.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name=Horvath3/> There is surprisingly little information on conflicts between these two eagle species.<ref name= Brown/> In the [[Naurzum Nature Reserve]] of [[Kazakhstan]] the golden and eastern imperial eagle, and to some extent also both [[white-tailed eagle]]s and [[steppe eagle]]s, were recorded nesting with fairly close proximity to each other. The eagle species here would even use nests built by the other species and seemed to have similar or broadly overlapping food habits, but no interspecies conflicts were detected.<ref name= Katzner3/> On the contrary, in the [[Altai Republic]], it appears that golden and eastern imperial eagles are considered to fill a largely similar [[ecological niche]] in abutting areas and do compete for nesting sites.<ref name= Altai/><ref name= Vazhov/> In some cases in Europe, golden and eastern imperial eagles will engage in a territorial display if prompted against one another.<ref>Janossy, D., Janossy, L. & Petrovics, Z. (1993). ''The geological origine [sic] and an observation of mutual display of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca)''. Aquila a Madartani Intezet Evkonyve, 100: 268-270.</ref>
[[File:Eastern Imperial Eagle (24979452083).jpg|thumb|left|Eastern imperial eagles may be attracted to carrion quite often especially in winter. Here with another scavenger, the [[Egyptian vulture]], in the background.]]
Of a similar distribution to eastern imperial eagles, both in their mid-Eurasian breeding ground and southerly Indo-African wintering grounds, are the [[steppe eagle]] and the [[greater spotted eagle]]. There is a fair amount of habitat partitioning between the three species, however, with the steppe eagle preferring flat, often almost treeless [[steppe]] while the greater spotted eagle prefers more densely wooded and wetter habitats generally than imperial eagles such as [[taiga]] [[bog]]s. Diet however can overlap considerably, especially with steppe eagles as both it and the imperial species are largely attracted to colonies of [[ground squirrel]]s in [[Central Asia]].<ref>Barashkova, A., Smelansky, I., Tomilenko, A., & Akentiev, A. (2009). ''Some Records of Raptors in the East Kazakhstan''. Raptors Conservation, (17).</ref><ref>[[Vladimir E. Flint|Flint, V. E.]], Bourso-Leland, N., & Baird, J. (1984). ''A field guide to birds of the USSR: including Eastern Europe and Central Asia''. Princeton University Press.</ref><ref>Väli, Ü. (2004). ''The greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga and the lesser spotted eagle A. pomarina: taxonomy, phylogeography and ecology''. Tartu University Press.</ref> While steppe eagles occur much more broadly in Africa during winter and a similarly narrow extent in the [[Indian subcontinent]] as eastern imperials, greater spotted eagles are similarly as rare as imperial eagles in Africa but spread farther in Asia than either the steppe or imperial species. In all three species, by winter they are attracted to more open habitats ranging from [[savanna]] to [[wetland]]s and even [[Desert|semi-desert]].<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /><ref name= Ferguson-Lees/> The ecology of wintering eastern imperials was studied at length in [[Bharatpur district]] of [[India]] in contrast to the steppe and greater spotted eagle as well as the resident [[Indian spotted eagle]] and shorter-distance migrant [[Pallas's fish eagle]]. It was found that the feeding opportunities sought were largely similar (nestling water birds were often favored) by all five eagle species and that a hierarchy was formed, though each species competed most regularly with others of their own species. The eastern imperial eagle was, by and large, dominant in correspondence to its slightly larger size than the other booted eagles and rivaled the similarly-sized Pallas's fish eagle as the top avian predator in this raptor community. The steppe eagle, despite being only scarcely smaller than an imperial eagle, was usually subordinate to imperial eagles and had a much lower estimated average daily food intake, {{convert|141|g|oz|abbr=on}} against an average of {{convert|539|g|lb|abbr=on}} for the imperial. However, the mean daily intake of Pallas's fish eagle was slightly higher still at {{convert|623|g|lb|abbr=on}} and the fish eagle would perch slightly higher than the imperials as well. In one case, a flock of 9 steppe eagles was able to pirate a freshly caught [[Eurasian coot|coot]] from an imperial eagle. The imperial was the most inactive forager here, having spent 36% of observed hours foraging, against 45% for steppe eagles, 46% for Pallas's fish eagle, 49% for greater spotted eagle and 65% for Indian spotted eagle.<ref name= Naoroji/><ref name= Prakash/> Other studies on the interactions of eastern imperial eagles also support that it is dominant during winter over similar species such as steppe and the spotted eagles at competitive feeding spots.<ref name= Dharmakuarsinhji/><ref>Rasmussen, P.C., & Anderton, J.C. (2005). ''Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. Vols. 1-2''. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, Washington, D.C. and Barcelona, Spain.</ref> In the [[Korean peninsula]], similarly as in the Indian subcontinent, wintering eastern imperial eagles (though rare) can reportedly be seen more than singly concentrated where there are ample numbers of [[water bird]]s along with other large eagles.<ref>Choi, C. Y., & Park, J. G. (2012). ''Birds of prey in Korea''. Korean Wild Birds Society & Shinan County, Seoul, South Korea.</ref> Next to nothing is known about the ecology of the rare, seldom-observed wintering population of eastern imperial eagles in [[east Africa]] but it is claimed to usually be seen in the company of “other brown eagles”.<ref name= Kemp/>

As its preferred habitat seldom overlaps with larger eagles such as golden eagles and [[white-tailed eagle]]s, the eastern imperial eagle is usually the top avian predator in its breeding grounds. In particular, smaller raptors with largely overlapping diets (i.e. [[ground squirrel]]s, [[hamster]]s, [[vole]]s & [[lagomorph]]s) and habitat preferences such as [[saker falcon]]s (''Falco cherrug'') and [[long-legged buzzard]]s (''Buteo rufinus'') are often at a disadvantage in direct competition with the eagle species.<ref>Bagyura, J., Szitta, T., Haraszthy, L., Viszló, L., Fidlóczky, J., & Prommer, M. (2012). ''Results of the Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) conservation programme in Hungary between 1980–2010''. Aquila, 119, 105-110.</ref><ref>Udvardy, M. D. F. (1951). ''The significance of interspecific competition in bird life''. Oikos, 3(1), 98-123.</ref><ref>Lindeman, G.V. (1985). ''[The Barrow Buzzard (Buteo rufinus Cretzschm.) in the interstream area between Volga and Ural Rivers.]'' 90: 27-37.</ref> In [[Slovakia]], some pairs of imperial eagle were reported to [[Kleptoparasitism|kleptoparasitize]] other raptors as a matter of routine. Here, four species consisting of [[saker falcon]]s, [[western marsh harrier]] (''Circus aeruginosus''), [[black-winged kite]] (''Elanus caeruleus'') and [[Eurasian sparrowhawk]] (''Accipiter nisus'') as well as [[red fox]]es were all robbed of their catches with a remarkable degree of success by imperial eagles. The eagles so heavily depleted the falcons' catches that the falcons’ nesting attempts failed.<ref name= Danko/> A still swifter falcon than the saker, the [[peregrine falcon]] (''Falco peregrinus'') was observed successfully robbing imperial eagles and a few other raptorial birds several times when the species nested near each other in the lower [[Sakmara river]] of [[Russia]] (although in one case, a juvenile peregrine was killed by the golden eagle it was attempting to rob). Interestingly, many of the imperial eagle kills that were robbed by the peregrines were other species of bird of prey.<ref name= Moshkin>Moshkin, A. (2009). ''Kleptoparasitism-One of Hunting Technique of the Peregrine Falcon that Became Common under Condition of the Increase in its Number in the Southern Ural Mountains, Russia''. Raptors Conservation, (17).</ref> In [[Tatarstan]], [[Russia]] it was found that eastern imperial eagles have begun nesting in atypical habitats and locations, namely the old nests of white-tailed eagles in isolated trees amongst open wetlands and old nests of a greater spotted eagle in densely wooded bogs. Despite the remaining presence of both other eagle species in the area, competition is probably not the driver for the imperial eagle altering its nesting habits but instead, it is likely due to the heavy human-caused depletion of the imperial eagles preferred prey of ground squirrels and hamsters in the area, with the wetland-located nests putting them close to currently reliable alternate primary foods, mainly water birds.<ref name= Bekmansurov>Bekmansurov, R. H., Karyakin, I. V., & Shnayder, E. P. (2015). ''On Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) breeding in atypical habitat under competitive conditions with other eagle species''. Slovak Raptor Journal, 9(1), 95-104.</ref>

The eastern imperial eagle may be characterized as an occasional and opportunistic predator of other birds of prey. The following raptorial birds have been known to fall prey this eagle: the [[lesser spotted eagle]] (''Clanga pomarina''), [[European honey buzzard]] (''Pernis apivorus''), [[black kite]] (''Milvus migrans''), [[hen harrier]] (''Circus cyaneus''), [[Montagu's harrier]] (''Circus pygargus''), [[western marsh harrier]], [[Eurasian sparrowhawk]], [[northern goshawk]] (''Accipiter gentilis''), [[common buzzard]] (''Buteo buteo''), [[long-legged buzzard]], [[rough-legged buzzard]] (''Buteo lagopus''), [[Ural owl]] (''Strix uralensis''), [[tawny owl]] (''Strix alucco''), [[little owl]] (''Athene noctua''), [[long-eared owl]] (''Asio otus''), [[short-eared owl]] (''Asio flammeus''), [[Eurasian hobby]] (''Falco subbuteo''), [[common kestrel]] (''Falco tinnunculus''), [[lesser kestrel]] (''Falco naumanni''), [[Merlin (bird)|merlin]] (''Falco columbarius''), [[red-footed falcon]] (''Falco vespertinus''), [[saker falcon]] and [[peregrine falcon]].<ref name= Horvath/><ref name= Katzner/><ref name= Chavko/><ref name= Demerdzhiev/><ref name= Hasani/><ref name= Katzner2/><ref name= Moshkin/><ref name= Korepov>Korepov, M.V. & Borodin, O.V. (2013). ''The Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) is a natural symbol of the Ulyanovsk region''. - Ulyanovsk: Volga Research Center.— 120 p.</ref><ref name= Adamian>Adamian, M. S., & Klem, D. (1999). ''Handbook of the Birds of Armenia''. American University of Armenia.</ref><ref>Zuberogoitia, I., Arroyo, B., O’Donoghue, B., Zabala, J., Martínez, J. A., Martínez, J. E., & Murphy, S. G. (2012). ''Standing out from the crowd: are patagial wing tags a potential predator attraction for harriers (Circus spp.)?'' Journal of ornithology, 153(3), 985-989.</ref> Although it may be classed properly as an [[apex predator]], eastern imperial eagles have fallen prey to other birds of prey on rare occasions. An instance of predation was reportedly committed by a [[white-tailed eagle]].<ref name= Palmer>Palmer, R. S. (Ed.). (1988). ''Handbook of North American Birds Volume VI: Diurnal Raptors (Part 1)''. Yale University Press.</ref> Furthermore, imperial eagles may be vulnerable at their nest to nighttime ambushes by [[Eurasian eagle-owl]]s (''Bubo bubo'').<ref name= Watson/><ref>Penteriani, V., & del Mar Delgado, M. (2019). ''The eagle owl''. Bloomsbury Publishing.</ref>