Go on the weekend to take a route through the countryside It is a plan that can be very playful and, above all, healthy for us humans. But… What happens to the native fauna of the area? This is a question that It’s starting to resonate a lot on the internet.by focusing on the impact that our presence in the mountains can have on the most emblematic species of Spain such as the golden eagle or the partridge that have begun to have a lesser presence.
A technological solution. The main idea that was in mind was that the animals were crashing into the hikers and causing great damage to their presence on the mountain. But to solve this mystery, biologists chose to put a GPS device on the eagles to monitor what they were doing. And the reality is that they are not crashing into us, but rather they are fleeing.
The result. In this way, when it is confirmed that we do not have any type of collision with the eagles that could respond to their change in behavior, we have to go where they go when we humans are in the mountains. The University of Valencia in 2019 led this investigationdetecting that without a doubt there is a “weekend effect.”
This effect can be seen in telemetry data which shows that during Saturdays and Sundays, the eagles are forced to modify their hunting routes. All this to avoid humans who, among other things, may be scaring away their targets on the ground.
A greater expense. When these birds have to go to other areas to look for food because of hikers, they have to cover a longer distance than they are normally used to. This only means greater physiological stress and energy expenditure that can compromise their reproduction or survival, even if they never touch a human.
But in addition, this translates into a situation known as ‘Landscape of Fear’, where the animal perceives the human not as a physical obstacle, but as a potential predator, which triggers its stress and cortisol levels, affecting its ability to breed.
The real threats. To understand the real danger that these birds are in, we must look at the different mortality statistics in Spain. In this case, although a sedentary lifestyle causes great discomfort to the animals, the causes of death are much more industrial and violent. According to the studies collected, such as those of the GER-EA projectthe main cause of death is collision with power lines and electrocution.
This is followed by poisoning and shooting, with 13 and 8% respectively. But what is clear is that humans are not a direct cause of death due to collisions with us when we are sedentary in the countryside.
Distinction matters. Stating that eagles collide with hikers may sound spectacular, but it diverts attention from the real problem that we can solve as mountain users. The study in Ecology and Evolution (2025) and data from Ecologists in Action They point out that the problem is Yontrusion into breeding areas. Climbing, off-road vehicles and off-road hiking near the nests cause the adults to abandon the nest or the chicks, leaving them exposed to the cold or predators.
Images | Mathew Schwartz
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