Bonelli´s Eagle, Havikarend, Habichtsadler, Águia de Bonelli, Águila-azor Perdicera
Spotted in the Alentejo region of Portugal. Bonelli´s Eagle sound
The Bonelli’s Eagle (Aquila fasciata) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It breeds in southern Europe, Africa both north and south of the Sahara Desert and across the Indian Subcontinent to Indonesia. It is usually a resident breeder which lays 1-3 eggs in a tree or crag nest.
More photos at the bottom of this page.
The Bonelli’s Eagle is a species of wooded, often hilly, country with some open areas. The African race prefers savannah, forest edges, cultivation, and scrub, provided there are some large trees; this is not a species of very open or densely forested habitats.
This is a small to medium – sized eagle at 55–65 cm in length. The upperparts are dark brown, and the underside is white with dark streaks. The wings are relatively short and rounded. 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.
The Bonelli’s Eagle takes a wide range of live prey, all taken alive. It usually hunts from cover by a quick dash from inside a tree, but it will also catch prey by quartering hill slopes like other eagles, or make a stoop from a soaring position. Most prey is taken on the ground.
This eagle takes large prey items, usually mammals or birds. Mammals up to the size of a hare are regularly taken, and birds up to guineafowl size. The Bonelli’s Eagle is usually silent except in display and near the nest. Its fluted klu-kluklu-kluee call is less shrill than that of its near relatives.
Recent DNA research resulted in this species being moved to the genus Aquila from Hieraaetus.
Other synonyms:
Afrikaans: Grootjagarend
Asturian: Aigla de Bonelli, Buzacu
Azerbaijani: Uzunquyruq qartal
Catalan: Àguila coabarrada, Àguila cuabarrada, Àguila perdiguera
Catalan (Balears): Àguila coabarrada
Czech: orel jestøábí, Orel jestrábí
Danish: Høgeørn
German: Habichtadler, Habichtsadler
English: Bonelli’s Eagle, Bonelli’s Hawk Eagle, Bonellis’s eagle
Spanish: Aguila Perdicera, Águila perdicera, Aguila-azor Perdicera, Águila-azor Perdicera, Aguililla-azor Perdicera
Estonian: haugaskotkas
Basque: Àguila cuabarrada, Aztore-arranoa
Finnish: Vuorikotka
French: Aigle de Bonelli
Galician: Aguia perdigueira, Àguila cuabarrada
Hungarian: Héjasas
Indonesian: Elang Bonelli
Icelandic: Haukörn
Italian: Aquila del Bonelli, Aquila di Bonelli
Japanese: boneriakumataka, boneri-kumataka
Latin: Aquila fasciata, Aquila fasciatus, Hieraaetus fasciatus
Lithuanian: Raibasis erelis
Dutch: Havikarend
Norwegian: Haukørn
Polish: orzelek poludniowy
Portuguese: Águia de Bonelli, Águia-de-bonelli
Slovak: Orol jastrabovitý, orol jastrabovitý
Slovenian: Bonellijev orel, kragulji orel, sokolji orel
Albanian: Shqiponja bishtvizuar
Swedish: Hökörn
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