Steve G
RAINBIRDER
This picture was taken at Makasutu in The Gambia two weeks ago. The image shows a pale Circaetus Eagle which at first glance looks like the Eurasian Short-toed Eagle (C. gallicus). However the head has more of a complete dark hood rather than the usual bib, the lower chest/belly has complete clean barring without the typical broken bars & smudging of S-T Eagle, the wings are neatly barred & the tail has obvious well-defined bars. When the bird banked the upperparts seemed darker than I would expect on S-T Eagle. I have seen a fair number of S-T Eagles in Spain, France & Greece & feel that the enclosed image is of the recently split Beaudouin's Snake Eagle (Circaetus beaudouini) -a sub-Saharan african species.
Short-toed Eagles are also present in The Gambia, S-T Eagles are very variable in their appearance & I'm no expert so I would be grateful for any feedback before I hang a name on the image.
Cheers,
Steve :h?:
Short-toed Eagles are also present in The Gambia, S-T Eagles are very variable in their appearance & I'm no expert so I would be grateful for any feedback before I hang a name on the image.
Cheers,
Steve :h?: