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Beaudouin's Snake Eagle - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Steve G
Near Kwinella, The Gambia, October 2008
Circaetus beaudouini

Identification

60–66 cm (23½-26 in)
Look for the thin parallel dark lines going from the body onto underwing coverts on the flying adult bird. In addition, wings are a little shorter.

Similar Species

Photo by Steve G
Makasutu in The Gambia, November 2005

Here is a thread which briefly dicusses the ID and how to distiguish from Short-toed Eagle. [[1]]. They usually show darker upperparts and bolder flight-feather markings than Short-toed Eagle.

Distribution

Africa.
Found from southwestern Mauritania south to Guinea and east to southwestern Sudan and western South Sudan and possibly to northern Uganda.

Taxonomy

Photo by d.flack
Gambia, March 2018

This is a monotypic species[1].
Formerly regarded as a subspecies of Short-toed Eagle.

Habitat

Open savannah woodland; fertile plains, often near water.

Behaviour

Frequently hovers like its congener Short-toed Snake Eagle C. gallicus.

Diet

Their main diet consists of snakes, though they also hunt for small mammals, lizards and even insects.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. BF Member observations
  3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Apr 2018)

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

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