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Bonelli's Eagle

Aquila fasciata

Photo by Stephen Wain
Published on Project Noah
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39.4722, -0.370789

Field Notes

Description:

This is a large bird of prey and like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It is a medium to great sized eagle at 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length, with a wingspan of about 150 cm (59 in). The upper parts of the adult are dark brown with a white patch between the wings. From below, the body is white with dark stripes, and the wings are blackish. The long tail is grey on top and white below and has a single broad black terminal band. The feet and eyes are yellow. Immature birds have deep buff underparts and underwing coverts, and have fine barring on the tail without the terminal band

Habitat:

It breeds in southern Europe, Africa both north and south of the Sahara Desert and across the Middle East and South Asia to Indonesia. It is usually a resident breeder.
Can be found in hilly or mountainous habitats, with rocky walls or crags and open to wooded land, in arid to semi-moist climate, from sea level to 1500 m

Notes:

This one was feeding on a rabbit
Video link :- https://youtu.be/jkHVnGvkI-8

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (7)

thank you so much for the positive comments - really appreciated
Brilliant spotting and congrats on your sotd.
Wow,great spotting,congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing
Congratulations Stephen, your Bonelli's Eagle is our Spotting of the Day. Great shots and video! "This impressive Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) seen with a freshly caught prey is our Spotting of the Day! This agile hunter and resident of rocky walls or crags has a broad distribution, with a breeding range extending from Spain and the Sahara across to southern Asia to Indonesia. In the Iberian Peninsula where this spotting was made, Bonelli's Eagle preys mostly on wild rabbit (as seen here), red-legged partridge and pigeon. Populations for this raptor are declining fast throughout its range due to over-use of pesticides, habitat degradation, loss of preys, power lines and persecution by hunters and pigeon fanciers. In Europe the population size seems currently stable, but it is estimated to have decreased at a rate close to 30% in the past 3 generations (BirdLife International 2015)." Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/pb.10150120463815603.-2207520000.1527980378./10160504717970603/?type=3&theater Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/1003049034184052736
Photographed
PublishedMay 31, 2018

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