Aquila clanga - Spotted Eagle
Feather characters. Barbules are extremely long (2.5-3.2 mm), entangled and basal internodes contain lightly stippled pigment in variable concentrations. Slightly thickened nodes (8-9 per mm) are located on proximal end of barbules. Over a short distance these nodes abruptly decrease in size. Further along the barbule, nodal structures are too small to qualify as nodes. Villi are absent and internodes are straight. Short prongs may occur along the entire length and on both sides of the pennulum, but they are unequally distributed. Their length varies; in some preparations, only minute prongs are found. The longest ones are longer than 0.01 mm, but shorter than half the length of the adjacent internode. Occasionally prongs are asymmetric.
Field characters. Length 65-72 cm; wingspan 158-182 cm. Weight: male 1733 g (1600-2000), female 2678 g (2150-32) (Dunning, 1993). Very similar to Lesser Spotted Eagle but wings slightly larger and broader. In flight with outstretched wings and tips of primaries well-spread; rather short, slightly rounded tail; protruding small head and short neck. Adult rather uniformly sooty brown, except for pale primary patches (smaller and less obvious than in Lesser Spotted) and pale patch on upper tail-coverts. Below, wing-coverts in typical birds are slightly darker than flight feathers, with single white carpal crescent (two in Lesser Spotted); 7th primary tip long (short in Lesser Spotted); pale yellow base of bill prominent against dark head. Juvenile with rows of many large, whitish spots on upperparts; in flight with two white bars on upper wing; contrast between black coverts and paler greyish flight feathers; single carpal crescent.
Voice. Usual call resembles barking of a small dog: "kyak-kyak-kyak".
Distribution. Rare breeding bird. Map: see MapIt.
Habitat. Favours lowland forests and low mountain forests and usually found near water or in wetlands.
Food. An opportunistic predator and scavenger, feeding on small to medium-sized vertebrates, insects, and carrion. Hunts on the wing or on the ground. May take also reptiles and amphibians.