Brown Snake Eagle

Brown Snake Eagle

 

Flaying Animal | Brown Snake Eagle | has dark brown overall appearance, large head and upright stance. Adult has dark brown plumage. Slight white mottling is visible on flight feathers. Underwing is silvery-grey. In fresh plumage, brown tail shows three narrow, white bars and a fine white tip. Head is dark brown, as body. Hooked bill is black with pale grey cere. Eyes are yellow. Long bare legs and stubby feet are pale grey. Both sexes are similar in plumage, with female slightly larger than male, about 5%. Juvenile is similar to adult, but some individuals may be slightly paler, or have fine pale feathers' edges, giving a faint scaled effect. Head and breast show white feathers bases often conspicuous.

Habitat and Habits

Eritrea and Ethiopia: Found on highland slopes with trees and also in thornbush and savanna with some taller trees and in cultivated and other open country (Ash and Atkins 2009). Characteristically seen perched on high tension pylons.

Zambia: Occurs in any woodland or dry forest and is found much less often on open plains than the Black-breated Snake Eagle .

Botswana: Occurs in any woodland, including pure acacia and mopane, but most common in broad-leafed and mixed acacia woodlands (Penry 1994). Also occurs in tree and bush savanna in high rainfall regions, and in semi-desert areas, it is found near mature woodland, particularly along river valleys and near pans (Penry op cit.). Less common in open savanna away from woodland than the Black-breasted Snake Eagle.

Zimbabwe: Occurs in any relatively open woodland and on the edges of riparian fringing forest.

Brown Snake Eagle

Brown Snake Eagle

Behaviour

Brown Snake Eagle often stands upright on the crown of a large tree. It is usually seen alone, sometimes in pairs, or soaring with other raptors. It may hover clumsily, but rarely. It feeds on snakes and other reptiles, carrying them by the head while flying. It spends most of its time perched in trees, performing short flights from tree to another, and hunting from these perches. Preys are always taken on the ground, often by dropping on it from a perch. More powerful but less agile than other Snake Eagles, it often kills the snake on the ground. Flight displays are simple, usually by a single bird. It soars high above its breeding area while frequently utters loud calls.

Brown Snake Eagle

Population Estimates

Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001) estimated the global population at the start of the breeding season at 10,000 to 1000,000 individuals. BirdLife International also estimated the number of mature individuals at 10,000 to 100,000 birds, but noted that the supporting data for this estimate are poor.

Brown Snake Eagle

Brown Snake Eagle

Scientific classification
Kingdom    Animalia
Phylum    Chordata
Class    Aves
Order    Falconiformes
Family    Accipitridae
Genus    Circaetus
Species    C. cinereus

Binomial name
Circaetus cinereus

Brown Snake Eagle