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Legge's hawk-eagle

Legge's hawk-eagle
Nisaetus nipalense (Thattekad).jpg
Nisaetus kelaarti, Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Nisaetus
Species: N. kelaarti
Binomial name
Nisaetus kelaarti
Legge, 1878
Synonyms

Spizaetus kelaarti
Nisaetus nipalensis kelaarti


Spizaetus kelaarti
Nisaetus nipalensis kelaarti

Legge's hawk-eagle (Nisaetus kelaarti) is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. It breeds in the Indian subcontinent, from southern India to Sri Lanka. Its specific name kelaarti honors the physician-zoologist E.F. Kelaart.

Legge's hawk-eagle is a medium-sized raptor. The typical adult has brown upperparts and pale underparts, with barring on the undersides of the flight feathers and tail. The breast and belly are heavily streaked. The wings are broad with a curved trailing edge, and are held in a shallow V in flight. Sexes are similar, but young birds are often whiter-headed.

Legge's hawk-eagle was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the mountain hawk-eagle, but it is smaller and has unstreaked buff underwing coverts. A 2008 study based on the geographic isolation and differences in call suggested that this be treated as a full species, Nisaetus kelaarti. It is a bird of mountain woodland that builds a stick nest in a tree and lays usually a single egg in a clutch. Legge's hawk-eagles eat small mammals, birds and reptiles.

Nisaetus kelaarti



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