- Aquila spilogaster
Hieraaetus spilogaster
Identification
- Dark brown upperparts
- White underside with dark streaks
- Short and rounded wings
- Often shows a pale primary panel in upperwings
- Whitish fore-underwing-coverts (ie lesser/median coverts)
- Blackish rear underwing-coverts (ie greater/median coverts and primary coverts)
- Whitish underwing flight-feathers which in adult have single broad black terminal band
- Tail: finely barred with dark grey, single broad black terminal band
- Yellow feet and iris
Immature: deep buff below and on underwing coverts with narrow dark band along the rear of the coverts, fine barring on tail and flight feathers, which both lack a terminal band.
Similar Species
Bonelli's Eagle shows a white patch on the mantle; in the adult bird, flight feathers should be dusky with a broad black trailing edge (only overlaps in very northern parts of the range of African Hawk Eagle).
Distribution
Widespread throughout Africa south of the Sahara:
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland
Taxonomy
African Hawk-Eagle has been split from Bonelli's Eagle. Both were formerly placed in genus Hieraaetus.
Habitat
This bird prefers acacia scrub in rocky areas at low to medium elevations. They especially favour wooded water-courses in such areas.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on mammals such as the African Hare along with gamebirds eg guineafowl or francolins.
Breeding
Nests in trees or on cliffs and tends to perch conspicuously in trees.
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
- Birdforum thread discussing separation of Bonelli's Eagle from African Hawk Eagle
- Sinclair et al. 2002. Birds of Southern Africa. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-691-09682-1
- Avibase
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) African Hawk-Eagle. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/African_Hawk-Eagle