09 Apr, 2025

Endangered Mongolian Eagle Returns to Breed in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park After Covering 3,000 km

Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Assam, has once again become the winter home of an endangered winged traveler, the Pallas’s fish eagle. This majestic fish eagle, tagged in Mongolia in 2020, has been returning to Kaziranga for breeding for five consecutive years, thrilling ornithologists and wildlife lovers alike.

The eagle, named Ider and fitted with a numbered ring (A 25), was recently spotted by scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society during a field visit on March 16, 2025. Ider’s journey spans nearly 3,000 km each year, flying from Buuntsagaan Lake in Mongolia to the wetlands of Assam’s famed Kaziranga National Park, following the Central Asian Flyway, one of the world’s major migratory bird routes.

Known as one of the largest fishing eagles, the Pallas’s Fish Eagle in Kaziranga National Park breeds during the winter months of November to March, displaying remarkable site fidelity by nesting in the same core zone of the park year after year.

With a global population estimated between 2,500 and 9,999 mature individuals, the Pallas’s fish eagle was listed as “vulnerable” in 2016 and later downgraded to endangered in 2021 by the IUCN. Its continued return to Kaziranga not only marks a conservation success story but also reinforces the park’s global importance as a critical habitat for rare migratory birds.