African Fish Eagle vs Grey-headed Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle

Icthyophaga vocifer

The African fish eagle is a large bird. The female, at 3.2–3.6 kg (7.1–7.9 lb) is larger than the male, at 2.0–2.5 kg (4.4–5.5 lb). This is typical sexual dimorphism in birds of prey. Males usually have wingspans around 2.0 m (6.6 ft), while females have wingspans of 2.4 m (7.9 ft). The body length is 63–75 cm (25–29.5 in). The adult is very distinctive in appearance with a mostly brown body with a white head like the bald eagle and large, powerful, black wings. The head, breast, and tail of African fish eagles are snow white, except for the featherless face, which is yellow.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Hobbyfotowiki · CC0

Grey-headed Fish Eagle

Icthyophaga ichthyaetus

Huge1.6 kgWoodland

The grey-headed fish eagle is a smallish to medium-sized but quite bulky fish eagle, with a small bill, a small head on long neck, rounded tail and shortish legs with unfeathered tarsi and long talons. Wings are not very long and wingtips reach less than halfway down tail. Males and females are sexually dimorphic. The grey-headed fish eagle has a body length of 61–75 cm (24–30 in). Females are heavier than males at 2.3–2.7 kg (5.1–6.0 lb) compared to 1.6 kg (3.5 lb). The tail measures between 23–28 cm (9.1–11.0 in) and the tarsus 8.5–10 cm (3.3–3.9 in). Voice: The calls of the grey-headed fish eagle include a gurgling awh-awhr and chee-warr repeated 5–6 times, an owlish ooo-wok, ooo-wok, ooo-wok, a nasally honking uh-wuk and a loud high pitched scream. These begin as subdued low short notes each succeeding one more strongly upturned and more strident then previous then dying away again and are uttered from a perch or on the wing.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Mike Prince from Bangalore, India · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: African Fish Eagle and Grey-headed Fish Eagle.