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Alternative name: Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle
Includes Legge's Hawk-Eagle

Spizaetus nipalensis

Photo by Peter Ericsson
Picture taken at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand.

[edit] Identification

[edit] Distribution

India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan.

[edit] Taxonomy

Three subspecies are currently recognized: nipalensis which is found from the Himalayas to China and the Malay peninsula, orientalis in Japan, and kelaarti in Sri Lanka and possibly the nearest parts of India. The Sri Lanka form kelaarti was described as a full species in 1878, and recognition as a full species (Legge's Hawk-Eagle) has again been proposed in 2008.

It has been proposed that genus Nisaetus would be better than Spizaetus for this and other Asian Hawk-Eagles.

[edit] Habitat

Forest and woodland along streams.

[edit] Behaviour

Legge's Hawk-Eagle (the Sri Lanka form) has several adaptations to probably hunting between trees and likely eating more mammals than the Himalayan form.

[edit] References

Gjershaug et al. 2008: An overlooked threatened species of eagle: Legge’s Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus kelaarti (Aves: Accipitriformes) Zootaxa 1792: 54–66

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages