Abstract
Bonelli’s eagle Aquila fasciata, is one of the rarest diurnal raptor species in France with only 22 pairs remaining in 2002. Following studies on the demography of the species in France conducted in the years 2010-2015, we fit here an integrated population model to update knowledge on the dynamics of the French population since the 1990s. this model jointly models capture-mark-recapture, fecundity and population size data. We estimated parameters for three periods (1990-1998, 1999-2010, 2011-2021) to examine the changes of the population dynamics over time. our results show that the population is currently growing at a rate of 3% per year, which leads to a doubling of the population every 24 years. our results also show that survival rates for all age classes have increased including over the last decade for juveniles and adults. For adults, the mortality rate decreased by 27% over the last decade compared to the previous decade, while it had already decreased significantly compared to the 1990s. these results are undoubtedly related to the efforts conducted to insulate power lines undertaken since the late 1990s. Fecundity is stable over the entire study period. our results confirm that immigration contributes strongly to the dynamics of the French population. they also confirm that the number of locally born recruits has increased significantly over the last 30 years and is at a level equivalent to that of recruits from immigration, thus confirming the improvement of the local situation. the local growth rate (i.e., not considering immigrants) is estimated to be slightly above 1 (compared to 0.96 for the previous decade), suggesting that the French population is now stable even in the absence of immigration. the situation of the species with less than 50 pairs remains critical in France and conservation efforts must be continued to ensure the long-term viability of the French population.