Changeable Hawk Eagle

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Changeable Hawk Eagle
Changeable Hawk Eagle at Uda Walawe National Park, Sri Lanka
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae Genus: Spizaetus Species: S. cirrhatus
Binomial name
Spizaetus cirrhatus (Gmelin, 1788)

The Changeable Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus cirrhatus is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae.

Changeable Hawk Eagle breeds in southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia and the Philippines. It is a bird of open woodland, although island forms prefer a higher tree density. It builds a stick nest in a tree and lays a single egg.

The Changeable Hawk Eagle is a medium-large raptor at about 60-72cm in length. As its name implies, the plumage is very variable, and the existence of a number of subspecies further complicates identification. Most subspecies have a crest of four feathers, but this is reduced in some races, and is absent in some island forms.

The typical adult has brown upperparts and pale underparts, with barring on the undersides of the flight feathers and tail. The breast and belly are streaked. Some birds are much darker. The wings are long and parallel-sided, and are held flat in flight, which helps to distinguish this species from the similar Mountain Hawk Eagle.

Sexes are similar, but young birds are often whiter-headed. Changeable Hawk Eagle eats mammals, birds and reptiles.

Widespread throughout its large range, the Changeable Hawk Eagle is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2005). Spizaetus cirrhatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6

[edit] External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet