Steppe eagles face catastrophic mortality from electrocution on mobile phone towers and power lines along their migration routes through the Middle East.
Electrocution causes immediate death through cardiac arrest. Birds perching on inadequately insulated towers contact live conductors. Entire migration cohorts can be killed at poorly designed towers during peak migration. The species is declining so rapidly that tower electrocution mortality is having population-level consequences. Nest success declines as surviving adults face food and habitat stress on breeding grounds.