Booted Eagle
Booted Eagle ( Hieraaetus pennatus )
The Booted Eagle ( Hieraaetus pennatus ) (syn. Aquila pennata ) is a medium sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae ( Accipitridae ). The specific epithet is the Latin word for pennatus feathered and refers to the to-toe feathered legs. This was how the English name ( Booted Eagle) and the French ( Aigle botté ), both of which can be translated as " booted eagle."
- 2.1 subspecies
- 6.1 Literature
- 6.2 Notes and references
Description
The Booted Eagle reaches a body length of 42-50 centimeters, of which 19-22 centimeters account for the tail. The wingspan is about 113-134 centimeters. The weight of the male reaches an average of about 720 grams, that of the female around 960 grams. He is about as large as the buzzard, but has more slender wings and a much longer tail.
In flight, the smallest European eagle shows their characteristic features. In gliding the Fingerung the six outer and the lighter three inner primaries is striking. A characteristic feature of the dwarf eagle is his pied -looking top. On the upper side of the wings, a broad light beige - brown ribbon diagonally in the middle coverts extends. The upper tail-coverts and neck are bright, the shoulder feathers are light beige and have the position lights, pure white front shoulder feathers at the base of the wings on. Similarly, the hairline is white at the Beak base in both morphs. The cere of the dark bill are like the legs yellow. The iris of the adult birds is golden yellow, the brown of the young birds.
Light morph
The underside of the body and the wings is yellowish - white and is thus in marked contrast to the dark wings. The crop area has thin brown longitudinal stripes, the ceilings of the underwings have dark spots. The top surface is the same as the morphology of the dark brown. The light morph is more common than the dark in Western Europe.
Dark morph
The coloring of the underside is very variable in the dark morphs, ranging from black to brown to light brown russet. The proportion of the dark morph is in the European part of Russia about three quarters.
Dissemination
The breeding range of the dwarf eagle stretching from the west of North Africa throughout Spain and a strip by France from the Northeast ( Ardennes ) to the Pyrenees in the south. In addition, there are isolated breeding population in eastern Europe, a wide dissemination in Greece and northern Turkey, as well as in the Caucasus and in a strip from the Caspian Sea on the west of Mongolia to the Siberian taiga. In Germany in 1995 in the forest area Hakel (Saxony- Anhalt), currently the only breeding record was provided. For Austria 2004 1-3 pairs are specified. As distinct migratory birds native to Western Europe drag the Booted Eagle in September after sub-Saharan Africa. The Eastern European breeding birds wintering in India. In South Africa, Namibia and northern India, there are year-round occurrence.
Subspecies
The Booted eagle comes in three subspecies:
- H. p. pennatus - the nominate of northwest Africa across southern and eastern Europe and Asia Minor in the north-west of India and to the Lake Balkhash
- H. p. harteri - in southern Siberia, in northern Mongolia and Transbaikalia in
- H. p. miniscula - in South Africa
Stock
The existence of the dwarf eagle in the Western Palearctic is currently estimated at about 8,000 pairs. The majority of these distributed to Northwest Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The world population is estimated at approximately 17000 pairs. Precise details are not currently available because the Booted Eagle in the breeding area very secretly behaves and the way is often not recognized, especially in the dark morphs.
Nutrition
Its diet consists mainly of small mammals (rodents and rabbits), birds, and reptiles such as lizards, as he also takes insects. In Spain, lizards, rabbits, and red-legged partridge are the most caught by him prey.
Reproduction
The female lays usually two, rarely an egg into the built in high trees Horst.