Booted Eagle ( Aquila pennatus, family: Accipitridae)

booted eagle kruger national park birds The Booted Eagle (Latin name Aquila pennatus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 136 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 535 also a picture of the Booted Eagle on page 496. The Booted Eagle belongs to the family of birds classified as Accipitridae.

The Robert's 7 Latin name for Booted Eagle has changed from Hieraaetus pennatus in Robert's 6 to Aquila pennatus

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Booted Eagle is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Booted Eagle in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Booted Eagle : see above distribution map.

Kruger Park Booted EagleIdentification assistance for this avian species ...

The Booted Eagle is a bird about the size of a grey hornbill. The height of the Booted Eagle is about 48 cms and its weight is about 710 gms

The male and female Booted Eagle have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is brown.
  • Eye is orange.
  • Bill is grey.
  • Throat is white.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are yellow.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Booted Eagle feeds on the ground mainly

Reptiles

Other Birds

Smaller animals

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Booted Eagle is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Aquila pennatus will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Booted Eagle is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 3 to 4

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Booted Eagle are: mountainous regions

You will normally see the Booted Eagle by itself rather than in the company of birds of the same species.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Dwergarend

German ... Zwergadler

Portuguese ... guia-calada

French ... Aigle bott

Dutch ... Dwergarend

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 136

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za