Although the Hungarian imperial eagle population is increasing, one can not say that no threats can affect it any more: as fast as the population growth has been in the last decade, as rapid could be a population decline if the life circumstances become unfavourable for the species again. Several factors are known to affect the population adversely even today, or to pose a potential threat for the development of the imperial eagle population in the future. These threats are presented below.

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1. Habitat loss

Since the Hungarian population is in expansion, at present this factor is considered to be a potential threat. The expected land use changes after Hungary’s accession to the EU may adversely affect the quality of imperial eagle habitats in large areas (intensification). The Carpathian Basin is one of the areas in Europe with the highest ratio of arable land, and the majority of imperial eagle territories is found in agricultural areas, too. We do not have a full knowledge concerning the key characteristics of the most preferred habitat patches of the species (nest-sites and hunting grounds). In other words, we do not quite know how the birds select the most used habitat types or whether some characteristics largely affect breeding success and survival. Lacking such information we are not able to predict the expected effects of habitat changes and in this way habitat management guidelines can not be drawn up. Without such well-based guidelines we can not know when certain restrictions are necessary thus the core areas of imperial eagle territories might become unsuitable for the species in short time. The effects and extent of this threat can not be exactly assessed at the moment, but conservationists have to be prepared to tackle the problems to arise. Unlike changes in agricultural land use patterns, problems resulting from intensive forestry have been present for many years. Loss of suitable nest sites is a problem mostly affecting breeding pairs of mountain areas, above all in not protected areas.

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2. Electrocution and shooting

Electrocution is probably the most significant human-induced mortality factor affecting the species in Hungary today. Birds choosing medium-voltage (20-45 kV) electric poles as a perch can suffer electrocution by touching two phases simultanously (phase-to-phase) or touching a conductor and a grounded metal element at the same time (ground-fault), both versions being lethal in most cases. Particularly young, unexperienced birds fall victims at electric poles. The threat of electrocution is the greatest in rainy, foggy weather when feathers become wet and conduct electricity better and at the same time flying becomes more difficult. Mortality caused by illegal shooting is fortunately not significant in Hungary any more, but individual cases still occur (both shooting of adults and into nests). The mortality of large birds of prey is the highest in their first few years of life (60-90%). Imperial eagles spend this period of their lives in mostly unknown temporary settlement areas and migration routes. In such not yet well identified areas the threatening factors are not known, thus the necessary conservation measures can not be implemented.

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3. Human disturbance

Deliberate or unintentional disturbance may cause failures of breeding attempts. The sensitivity of pairs can be very different, but it can be stated generally that disturbance during incubation or when small chicks are in the nest can be disastrous for the brood. It may happen that parents abandon the nest or while they are absent the eggs cool off or get overheated or perhaps get cracked by ravens or crows. Intentional disturbance can be the observation of the nest from a too close distance or diturbance originating from human curiosity (e.g. landowner wants to check the nest). Much more frequent are unintentional disturbances originating from forestry or agricultural activities, tourism, adventure sports, beekeeping, etc..

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