Crowned Eagle

Crowned Eagle
Crowned Eagle
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Stephanoaetus
Sclater, 1922
Species: S. coronatus
Binomial name
Stephanoaetus coronatus
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Crowned Eagle range

The Crowned Eagle or Crowned Hawk-eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus), is a very large, powerful, crested bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa it is restricted to suitable habitat in the eastern areas.[2] It is the only extant member of the genus Stephanoaetus. A second species, the Malagasy Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus mahery) became extinct after humans settled on Madagascar.[3]

It mainly inhabits dense forests.[2] Its staple diet consists of monkeys (particularly those of the genus Chlorocebus) and other medium-sized mammals, such as the Cape Hyrax and small antelopes.[4] To a far lesser extent, birds and large lizards are also taken.[4] However, 98% of the diet is mammalian.

While it, on average, weighs less and has a smaller wing-span than the Martial Eagle (its average total length exceeds that of the Martial Eagle), the Crowned Eagle is Africa's most powerful and ferocious eagle in terms of the weight and nature of prey taken.[4] It mainly preys on mammals such as duikers, weighing up to 30 kg (66 lb).[4][5] Due to their similarities, the Crowned Eagle is often considered Africa's analogue of the Harpy Eagle.

Contents

Description

Budongo, W. Uganda

The Crowned Eagle has dark grey upperparts with rufous and white below; its belly and breasts are heavily mottled with black. This eagle has relatively short, broad and rounded wings for added manoeuvrability in its environment. The rufous underwing coverts and strongly barred white and black outer wings and tail are all diagnostic in flight.[2] The large crest (often raised) combined with this bird's very large size make the adult near-unmistakable at suitable range.

The juvenile is often confused with the juvenile Martial Eagle, especially in flight. The juvenile Crowned is distinguished from that species in having a much longer, more heavily barred tail and spotted thighs.[2]

The legs are extremely powerful and the eagle possesses formidably large, strong talons, often used for killing and dismembering prey. Length is 80–99 cm (31–39 in), the wingspan is 1.51–1.81 m (5.0–5.9 ft) and weight is 2.55–4.7 kg (5 lb 10 oz–10 lb 6 oz).[4][5] As in most birds of prey, the female is larger than the male (by 10-15%).[5]

Distribution and habitat

In eastern Africa, the Crowned Eagle's range extends from southern Uganda and Kenya, forested parts of Tanzania, eastern Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and eastern South Africa about as far south as Knysna.[2]

from eastern and southern Africa, its range also extends westward through the Congolian and Guinean forests, but it is now rare in many parts of West Africa.[4]

The Crowned Eagle inhabits dense forests (sometimes plantations), heavily wooded hillsides, dense woodland and rocky outcrops throughout its range, at an altitude of up to at least 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[5] Owing to lack of suitable habitat, the eagle's range is discontinuous.[5]

Ecology

The Crowned Eagle is non-migratory and is largely sedentary, usually inhabiting a fixed territory for most of its lifespan. There is evidence that the birds migrate moderate distances when circumstances require it, for example when changing mates in isolated breeding areas.[6][dead link] Such migration is local in scale and is not comparable to the seasonal migrations of some other eagle species (e.g., the Steppe Eagle.)

Whilst essentially an elusive species (owing mostly to its habitat), the Crowned Eagle is highly vocal and has a noisy, undulating display flight. The male performs an elaborate rise-and-fall display over the forest canopy both during the breeding season and outside it as a territorial proposition. During this display, the male is noisy and may reach heights exceeding 900 metres (3,000 ft). The voice is a series of loud whistles that rise and fall in pitch. The female may also perform independent display flights and pairs are also known to collaborate in spectacular tandems.

Diet

The Crowned Eagle's staple diet is mostly mammalian, with primates being the most commonly taken prey (82% in one study in Uganda).[7] In suitable habitat it will also take hyraxes and small antelope such as duikers. An adult eagle will only resort to hunting large wild fowls (such as guineafowl), herons, storks, pigeons, domestic livestock, monitor lizards and snakes when mammalian food sources are scarce, which is uncommon. Juveniles and subadults, however, may take these types of prey more frequently.

Being a forest-dwelling species, the Crowned Eagle has no need to travel great distances to hunt, nor employ a great deal of active hunting flight (such as soaring seen in savannah-dwelling species). Rather, it tends to hunt passively; a soaring range of 4–10 miles (6.4–16 km) is the norm and is only seldom exceeded.[citation needed] After flying above the canopy and locating a suitable hunting spot (sometimes by the call of the noisy Vervet Monkey), the eagle will wait on a perch, perhaps for a nearby troop of monkeys to be spotted. Following the sighting of suitable prey, the eagle quickly and stealthily manoeuvres itself through the forest towards its prey, a certain element of surprise inherent in its final approach. The sharp, powerful talons may produce sufficient force to kill the prey on impact; if not, death from trauma or asphyxiation soon follows. More rarely, these eagles will snatch arboreal mammals out of trees in flight.[5] Typically, the eagle can carry a mass roughly equal to its own (~ 3–6 kg) to its nest or perch; anything heavier is dismembered and returned to the nest or perch in pieces. Parts of larger prey are often cached for later consumption.

Breeding

Crowned Eagle pairs breed once every two years; a single breeding cycle is of approximately 500 days in duration.

The pair collaborate in building a massive nest in a fork of a large forest tree, typically 15–40 m (49–130 ft) above the ground. A nest built from scratch may take several (up to 5) months to construct, however existing nests are often repaired and re-used during successive breeding seasons. A larger nest may measure up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) across and up to 3 m (9.8 ft) deep and consists of both dead and greener branches.

Conservation status

The Crowned Eagle is fairly common in suitable habitat, though its numbers show decline in sync with deforestation. It is far more common in protected areas and reserves than elsewhere in its range, though is still recorded consistently outside of these areas.

Like the Martial Eagle, the Crowned has throughout modern history been persecuted by farmers, who hold that the bird is a threat to their livestock.[8] The Crowned Eagle only rarely attacks livestock.[4]

In April 1996 the world's first captive-born Crowned Eagle hatched at the San Diego Zoo. Among ISIS registered zoos, only San Diego Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo and Lowry Park Zoo have this species.[9]

References

  • Gibbon, Guy; Maclean, Gordon & van der Merve, Steven (1997): Roberts' Multimedia Birds of Southern Africa 2.1 (CD-ROM). Southern African Birding cc.
  • Goodman S. M., Rasoloarison R. M. and Ganzhorn J. U. (2004). On the specific identification of subfossil Cryptoprocta (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Madagascar. Zoosystema 26 (1): 129-143.

Footnotes

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2009). "Stephanoaetus coronatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/144520. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Sinclair & Ryan (2003). Birds of Africa south of the Sahara. ISBN 1868728579
  3. ^ Goodman, Steven M. (1994). Description of a new species of subfossil eagle from Madagascar: Stephanoaetus (Aves: Falconiformes)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Kemp, A. C. (1994). Crowned Hawk-eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus). Pp. 205 in: del Hoyo, Elliott & Sargatal. eds. (1994). Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 2. ISBN 84-87334-15-6
  5. ^ a b c d e f Ferguson-Lees & Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. ISBN 0713680261
  6. ^ The Hawk Conservancy Trust (2006): Crowned Eagle - Stephanoaetus coronatus[dead link]. Retrieved 2006-OCT-7.
  7. ^ Mitani J.C. , Sanders W.J., Lwanga J.S. & T.L. Windfelder (2001) "Predatory behavior of crowned hawk-eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) in Kibale National Park, Uganda" Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 49(2-3): 187-195 doi:10.1007/s002650000283
  8. ^ [1][dead link]
  9. ^ ISIS (2010). Stephanoaetus coronatus. Version 27 Oct. 2010


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