Spizaetus
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 Changeable Hawk Eagle
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S. africanus |
Spizaetus is a genus of birds of prey. It is a group of medium-large tropical eagles with most species occurring in southern and southeastern Asia. However, there is one representative of this genus in the rainforests of West Africa and two in the tropics of the Americas. Several species have a prominent head crest.
Spizaetus eagles are forest birds with several species having a preference for highland woodlands. They build stick nests in trees. The sexes are similarly plumaged with typical raptor brown upperparts and pale underparts, but young birds are distinguishable from adults, often by a whiter head..
These eagles eat medium sized vertebrate prey such as mammals, birds and reptiles.
The species in taxonomic order are:
- Cassin's Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus africanus
- Changeable Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus cirrhatus
- Mountain Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus nipalensis
- Blyth's Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus alboniger
- Javan Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus bartelsi
- Sulawesi Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus lanceolatus
- Philippine Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus philippensis
- Wallace's Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus nanus
- Black Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus tyrannus
- Ornate Hawk Eagle, Spizaetus ornatus
[edit] References
- Barlow, Wacher and Disley, Birds of The Gambia ISBN 1-873403-32-1
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, Birds of India ISBN 0-691-04910-6
- Hilty, Birds of Venezuela ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
