Booted Eagle
Hieraaetus pennatus
Habitat
Ground
Diet
VertFishScav
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
824 g
About This Species
Look for a small, compact eagle soaring on flat or slightly raised wings over open woodland, scrubland and hillsides, occurring in both a pale and a darker plumage morph that can make the same species look quite different in flight. It hunts small birds, reptiles and rodents, often stooping suddenly from a soar, and is most visible on thermals during the warmer parts of the day. As a migrant across much of Europe and Asia, spring and late summer passage periods concentrate numbers at watchpoints, while African and Indian wintering grounds hold birds outside the breeding season.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Watch from a distance with binoculars rather than approaching a nest site or plucking post, since raptors are particularly sensitive to disturbance while breeding and may desert a nest if repeatedly approached.
- Legal protections for birds of prey vary across its breeding range in Europe and Asia and its wintering grounds in Africa and the Indian subcontinent, so treat any specific distance or penalty as applying only in the country where it is written into law.
- When uncertain, the cautious default is to keep enough distance that a perched or nesting bird shows no sign of alarm.
Seasonal Activity
495,780 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
Traits
- Diet
- VertFishScav
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 824 g
Photo
(c) Stuart Shearer, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Stuart Shearer
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.