Ornate Hawk Eagle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| iOrnate Hawk Eagle | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Spizaetus ornatus (Daudin, 1800) |
The Ornate Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus ornatus) is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae.
It breeds in moist tropical forests from southern Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago south to Peru and Argentina. It builds a large stick nest in a tree.
Ornate Hawk Eagle is a medium-large raptor at about 58-64cm in length, and weighs 1200 g. It has a prominent pointed crest, raised when excited, a black bill, broad wings and a long rounded tail.
The typical adult has blackish upperparts and crown, bright chestnut sides to the neck and breast and a black-edged white throat and central breast. The rest of the underparts and feathered legs are white barred with black, and the tail has broad black bars. The underwings are white, with barred flight feathers.
Sexes are similar, but young birds are have a white head, crest and underparts, with brown upperparts, and barring only on the flanks and legs.
The male’s flight display is a dive with folded wings, and a climb, sometimes completing a loop. The pair will touch talons in flight as the female rolls on her back. The call is a high-pitched whee-oo whee-oo pitched whee-oo.
Ornate Hawk Eagles eats mainly birds, with some small mammals, and reptiles.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Spizaetus ornatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
