5 Extraordinary Eagles Species
Eagles are often seen as the king of birds of prey.
They are nearly always massive, powerful and utterly majestic. The rumour of an eagle sighting can have Twitchers (birdwatchers) from all over the world giddy with excitement, and people have travelled across the planet just for the chance of glimpsing an eagle on their “want to see” list.
Perhaps it is their massive size or their ability to take down large prey that makes eagles so fascinating, or perhaps it’s the permeation through our culture, with eagles appearing in our mythologies, literature, Heraldry and even in the Muppets.
No matter the reasons, eagles are extraordinary. So, here is my pick five extraordinary eagles species that would fascinate any bird enthusiast.
Bateleur Eagle
The Bateleur eagle is a stunning looking bird, with black and grey feathers but, more strikingly, a bright red face and feet. Found throughout Africa, mainly in sub-Saharan savannas and woodland, this eagle is medium-sized Eagle but in rare cases can grow to have an impressive 6ft wingspan.
Besides its dazzling colours, there are perhaps two extraordinary traits for this Eagle; the first being the way it suns itself with its wings outspread. It does this after washing in water, in order to dry its wings. Sometimes when Bateleur eagle do this, they allow ants to crawl over their feathers in order to take bits of food and dead feathers away. Then the eagle ruffles its feathers, startling the ants so they spray formic acid, which kills any ticks living in its feathers.
The second extraordinary trait is its ability to hunt snakes, and its adaptations to help with this. Bateleur eagles will hunt both non-poisonous and poisonous snakes. In order to hunt poisonous snakes, they can draw blood away from their feet and face - the places most likely to be stricken by a snake strike and not protected by feathers. This means that if a snake does bite, the attacking eagle is much less likely to have the poison enter its blood stream. The scales on a Bateleur eagle’s feet are also formed in such an overlapping way as to protect from bites as well.
Their tail feathers are incredibly short, which enables them to move backwards to avoid a snake from striking them without tripping over their tail feathers. This short tail also enables them to be incredibly acrobatic in the air, which is where their name comes from as Bateleur is the French word for “Street Performer”.
Steller's Sea Eagle
There is some competition when it comes to the world’s largest eagle, with factors such as weight and wingspan often having different first place contenders.
However, one eagle that is often favourite for this title in all categories is the Steller’s sea eagle. This enormous raptor can weigh up to 9.5 kg, with the average weight being roughly 6.7 kg. This makes them the heaviest of all eagles. Its wingspan is also 7ft on average, which places it only marginally behind the largest average wingspan of the White-Tailed Eagle.
However, its maximum wingspan is thought to be anywhere between 8ft 2 inches and 9ft 2 inches!
As their name suggests, they feed mainly on fish but can also be found hunting a variety of sea birds. They are found on the Northeast-Asian coastline from Russia to Japan, but some sightings put them as far south as Taiwan. They are most densely populated in the Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia but one of the best places to see these eagles is off the coast of Shiretoko in Northern Japan, where they hunt for fish sheltering under the sea ice.
African Fish Eagle
This majestic bird is luckily a very common sight across all of Sub-Saharan Africa, being found commonly wherever there are large bodies of open water. They have a striking white head and breast, and are large. Some of the females (females are almost always bigger than their male counterparts in the world of raptors) can have wingspans up to 8ft.
They are masterfully suited to catching fish, with barbs on their feet that allow them to grasp hold of slippery fish. These eagles snatch smaller fish from the surface of the water, but the African fish eagle can also catch fish over ten times its own body weight, often dragging them across the surface of the water as they fly until they reach the shore. Even if the fish is too heavy to accomplish this, they can drop into the water and paddle to shore using its wings.
Harpy Eagle
Another very strong contender for the worlds biggest eagle, the harpy eagle is only marginally lighter on average than the Steller’s sea eagle and is often regarded as one of the longest eagles, alongside the Philippine eagle, with an average length of just under a meter. The only area in which this bird does not compete against its other largest eagle rivals is wingspan.
While they can have wingspans of up to 7ft 4inches, harpy eagles are often spotted with smaller, broader wings which are better suited to their habitat, which is the rainforests ranging from Mexico all the way down to Argentina. Here they primarily hunt monkeys and sloths in the tree canopies, waiting on a perch until one strays near. They have the largest talons of any eagle, with the rear talon (the longest one they have) being larger than a grizzly bear’s claw. The harpy eagles use these massive talons to drive all the way into their prey with more force than a rottweiler's jaws.
Their nests are also huge, sometimes being large enough for a grown man to sit in.
Bald Eagle
Although not the biggest or impressive eagle in the world, the bald eagle is definitely the most recognisable. This striking bird is an animal of national pride for Americans, often being viewed patriotically as a symbol of “freedom” and American values.
Even before modern American culture developed and adopted this animal, the bald eagle was sacred to many Native American cultures. They mainly hunt fish but will eat many other creatures. Their prey “spectrum” consists of more than 400 species. Interestingly, the bald eagle has the heaviest verified load ever flow with, when it carried off a 6.8kg mule deer fawn.
However, many other species eagles kill animals much larger than this and eat them on site, such as the golden eagle, which sometimes kills prey of up to 30kg. Bald eagles can be found in any wetland area, ranging from lakes to the sea, all across America and Canada.
Parting Thoughts of These Amazing Species of Eagle
I have been lucky enough to see two of the eagles listed here, the Bateleur eagle and the bald eagle. Sadly, both of these were display birds from bird education and conservation establishments and it is a dream of mine to see these awesome birds hunting in their natural habitats.
Eagles hold a special place in our hearts as the “king” of birds and it seems that our love affair with these extraordinary birds is soaring higher than ever.
Article written as a guest contribution by Callum Royal.
