African Hawk-Eagle vs Spanish Imperial Eagle

African Hawk-Eagle

Aquila spilogaster

Large1.5 kgGrassland

The African hawk-eagle has a somewhat small head but one that protrudes quite well due its quite long neck and relatively prominent beak. Furthermore, the species possesses a longish tail, with long and somewhat slender feathered legs and has large, robust feet. Although African hawk-eagles occasionally take to perching in the open, they usually are somewhat obscured for much of the day within the cover of foliage and often perch relatively low down in tall trees. The wing tips tend to fall a bit short of the tail tip. Voice: The African hawk-eagle is generally silent outside breeding season. Its main call is melodious fluting klooee. The call is perhaps most often recorded in contact between pair members. The call is sometimes considered not unlike that of the often sympatric Wahlberg's eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi) but that of the African hawk-eagle tends to be less drawn out and more mellow in tone.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: I've Got It On Film! · CC BY 2.0

Spanish Imperial Eagle

Aquila adalberti

Huge3.0 kgWoodland

This is a large raptor and quite large eagle, broadly similar in size to its cousin, the eastern imperial eagle, which is found in a considerably different distributional range. Compared to sympatric largish booted eagles, it is somewhat smaller than the golden eagle and somewhat larger than Bonelli's eagle. Spanish imperial eagles can weigh from 2.5 to 4.8 kg (5.5 to 10.6 lb). The average weight of males in a sample of 10 was 3.19 kg (7.0 lb) while that of 17 females was found to be 3.43 kg (7.6 lb). Meanwhile, another sample of 10 unsexed adults weighed an average of 3.93 kg (8.7 lb).

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Cristina Villaverde · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: African Hawk-Eagle and Spanish Imperial Eagle.