Legge's Hawk-Eagle - BirdForum Opus

Photo by martinuk
Nuwara Eliya, Central Province, Sri Lanka, March 2015

Nisaetus kelaarti

Spizaetus kelaarti

Identification

67–86 cm (26¼-34 in)
A powerful crested hawk-eagle

Distribution

Found in southwest India and Sri Lanka.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.
It was formerly considered conspecific with Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
Like the other Asian Hawk-Eagles this species was formerly placed in genus Spizaetus.

Habitat

Montane forests and woodland along streams, at heights around 600 m to 4000 m.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of small mammals, game birds, also lizards and snakes on occasion.

Has several adaptations to probably hunting between trees and likely eating more mammals than Mountain Hawk-Eagle.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gjershaug et al. 2008: An overlooked threatened species of eagle: Legge’s Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus kelaarti (Aves: Accipitriformes) Zootaxa 1792: 54–66
3. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Legge's Hawk-Eagle. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Legge%27s_Hawk-Eagle

External Links

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