Martial Eagle ( Polemaetus bellicosus, family: Accipitridae)

The Martial Eagle (Latin name Polemaetus bellicosus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 140 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 538 also a picture of the Martial Eagle on page 497. The Martial Eagle belongs to the family of birds classified as Accipitridae.

Kruger Park Martial EagleThe 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 Martial Eagle is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

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

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

martial eagle kruger national park birds

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 Martial Eagle is a large bird much bigger than a Pied Crow. The height of the Martial Eagle is about 83 cms and its weight is about 3300 gms

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

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

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Martial Eagle feeds on the ground mainly

Reptiles

Other Birds

General scavenger habits

Smaller animals

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Martial Eagle is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Polemaetus bellicosus will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Martial 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 1

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Martial Eagle are: woodlands

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

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Ukhozi

Zulu ... isiHuhwa/uKhozi

Afrikaans ...Brekoparend

German ... Kampfadler

Portuguese ... guia-marcial

French ... Aigle martial

Dutch ... Vechtarend

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

Robert's 7th edition number ... 140

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