African Hawk Eagle
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| African Hawk Eagle | ||||||||||||||
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| Hieraaetus spilogaster (Bonaparte, 1850) |
The African Hawk Eagle (Hieraaetus spilogaster) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.
African Hawk Eagle breeds in tropical Africa south of the Sahara. It is a bird of wooded hills, which builds a stick nest about 3 feet in diameter in the fork of a large tree. The clutch is generally one or two eggs.
African Hawk Eagle is a largish eagle at about 55-65cm in length. The upperparts are blackish. The body underparts are white, heavily streaked with black. The underwing flight feathers are white with a black trailing edge. The underwing coverts are mostly black with white spots.
Sexes are similar, but young birds are brown above and rufous coloration replaces the black underparts of the adult.
The African Hawk Eagle hunts small mammals, reptiles, and birds up to the size of a francolin. The call is a shrill kluu-kluu-kluu.
Recent DNA research suggests that this species should be moved to the genus Aquila.
Reference
- Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1