Lesser Spotted Eagle ( Aquila pomarina, family: Accipitridae)

lesser spotted eagle Kruger National Park birds The Lesser Spotted Eagle (Latin name Aquila pomarina) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 134 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 530 also a picture of the Lesser Spotted Eagle on page 497. The Lesser Spotted Eagle belongs to the family of birds classified as Accipitridae.

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 Lesser Spotted Eagle is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park. It is however a rare summer resident

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

The Lesser Spotted Eagle.

Kruger Park Lesser Spotted EagleIdentification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Lesser Spotted Eagle is a largish bird about the same size as a Pied Crow. The height of the Lesser Spotted Eagle is about 65 cms and its weight is about 1200 gms

The male and female Lesser Spotted Eagle have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is brown.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is brown.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are black.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Lesser Spotted Eagle feeds on the ground mainly

Smaller animals

Invertebrates

Aquatic life forms

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Lesser Spotted Eagle takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

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

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Lesser Spotted Eagle are: woodlands

You will normally see the Lesser Spotted Eagle in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Gevlekte Arend

German ... Schreiadler

Portuguese ... guia-pomarina

French ... Aigle pomarin

Dutch ... Schreeuwarend

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

Robert's 7th edition number ... 134

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