About the Pallas's Fish Eagle
Pallas's fish eagle, also known as Pallas's sea eagle or band-tailed fish eagle, is a large, brownish sea eagle. It breeds in the east Palearctic in Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is partially migratory, with Central Asian birds wintering among the southern Asian birds in northern India, and also further west to the Persian Gulf.
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ID tip
The Pallas's fish eagle has a light sandy-brown hood and a whitish face. The wings are darker brown and the back rufous. The long, slender wings (particularly slender for a sea eagle) are rather dark brown underneath. The tail is black with a wide, distinctive white stripe. Juveniles are overall darker, cooler brown with no band on the tail but with several pale areas on the wing, including the underwing coverts and inner primaries. This results in underwings that have a white band in young fish eagles. It takes until the 4th year or so to obtain adult plumage.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in Cambodia, United Arab Emirates.
When to see it
Peak activity in February · a winter visitor species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Steller's Sea EagleHaliaeetus pelagicusMature H. pelagicus eagles have mostly dark brown to black plumage, with strongly contrasting white on the lesser and median upper-wing coverts, under-wing coverts, thighs, under-tail coverts, and tail.
White-tailed EagleHaliaeetus albicillaGiven reasonable view, adult white-tailed eagles are difficult to mistake for any other bird.
Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalusThe plumage of an adult bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white head and tail.
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