Solid color short-toed eagle
| Solid color short-toed eagle | ||||||||||
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Monochrome short-toed eagle, Akagera National Park, Rwanda |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Circaetus cinereus | ||||||||||
| Vieillot , 1818 |
The brown snake eagle ( Circaetus cinereus ) is a bird of prey from the kind of Schlangenadler ( Circaetus ) within the family of Accipitridae (Accipitridae).
features
With a body length of up to 73 cm and a wingspan of up to 170 cm, the monochrome short-toed eagle is quite a large bird of prey. He reaches a weight of 2.5 kg. The plumage is dark brown in color. The featherless legs are pale in color. The irises of the eyes are bright yellow. On the top and bottom of the tail there is indistinct, triple, light-colored banding. The tips of the tail feathers are narrowly pale in color.
Way of life
Even if the single-color short-toed eagle sometimes looks for prey from flight, like other short-toed eagles, it prefers high-seat hunting from trees or hills. The prey is mostly devoured on the ground and only very rarely, as with other larger short-toed eagles, in flight. The prey consists mainly of snakes . He also beats monitor lizards , chameleons and other lizards , in East Africa also guinea fowl and occasionally chickens.
distribution and habitat
The monochrome short-toed eagle occurs in Africa south of the Sahara in almost all countries up to the east of South Africa. It can be found in open forests and in savannahs with trees and dry thorn bush landscapes.
Danger
Due to the very large distribution area and the assumed stable population, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies the single-color short-toed eagle as not endangered (Least Concern, LC).
Breeding biology
The raptor builds very small nests from thin branches, 60–70 cm in diameter and 15–30 cm deep. The nests at a height of 3.5–12.0 m are lined with green leaves. The clutch is incubated for 48–50 days.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d James Ferguson-Lees, David A. Christie: Raptors of the World. , Houghton Mifflin Verlag, 2001, ISBN 978-0618127627 , p. 452.
- ↑ Nigel Redman, John Fanshawe, Terry Stevenson: Birds of the Horn of Africa. Christopher Helm Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-0713665413 , p. 88.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Brown Snake-eagle (Circaetus cinereus) in the Internet Bird Collection
- Circaetus cinereus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2011.