Mountain Hawk-Eagle - BirdForum Opus

Posture and detail of face, tarsi and underbody
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Nainital, Uttarakhand Himalayas, Altitude 6500 feet above msl, India
6 November 2012

Alternative name: Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle

Nisaetus nipalensis

Spizaetus nipalensis

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

Identification

Large hawk-eagle at 66–84 cm

Brownish above
Crest size varies geographically
Barred below
Wings relatively short
Tail long, with bars of even size
Eyes yellow to orange

Juveniles paler, almost all-white below

Similar species

Changeable Hawk Eagle (see references)

Distribution

Asia: India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan.

Adult mobbed by Large-billed Crows
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Hill Station Ranikhet, Alt. 6500 ft., Uttarakhand Himalayas, India, 7 October 2021

Taxonomy

Legge's Hawk-Eagle was formerly considered conspecific.
Like the other Asian Hawk-Eagles this species was formerly placed in genus Spizaetus.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized^[1].

N. n. nipalensis:

India to eastern China, Taiwan, Indochina and Malay Peninsula

N. n. orientalis:

Japan

Habitat

Forest and woodland along streams.

Behaviour

Mostly resident but seems to be an elevational migrant and may also go south to some extent.

Feeds on smaller mammals up to the size of hares and Japanese macaques, as well as birds up to the similar size.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2) DRAFT. Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
Gjershaug et al. 2008: An overlooked threatened species of eagle: Legge’s Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus kelaarti (Aves: Accipitriformes) Zootaxa 1792: 54–66
Birdforum thread discussing identification of this species

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Mountain Hawk-Eagle. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Mountain_Hawk-Eagle

External Links

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