The Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca adalberti) is 
among Europe’s most handsome and most endangered 
birds. An estimated sixty pairs survive in Spain, 
primarily in Caceres Province and in the Coto Dohana 
National Park, Andalusia, and a few pairs remain in 
Portugal. Spain has granted the eagle full legal 
protection, and healthy chicks are born every year, 
but the birds are still subject to pesticides and other 
poisons, hunters, and loss of habitat, notably to the 
planting of eucalyptus. 
40 
Spain’s 
Imperial 
Eagle 
Photographs by Jose Luis Gonzale 
