Solitary Eagle (Buteogallus solitarius) | Photos, Calls and ID

NTNear ThreatenedVertebrates

ForestPlatform nestHuge · 3.0 kg

Solitary Eagle (Buteogallus solitarius), photo 10 — Photo: (c) Ryan F. Mandelbaum, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

What the Solitary Eagle sounds like

Sonogram of the Solitary Eagle: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Zamora-Chinchipe: left bank Río Numpatakaime (C. Plateado trail camp 1), Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The adult solitary eagle is uniformly dark gray, often appearing black, with white markings on the tail. It is 63 to 79 cm (25 to 31 in) and has a 152 to 188 cm (5 ft 0 in to 6 ft 2 in) wingspan. With a body mass of approximately 3 kg (6.6 lb), it appears to rival its similarly-weighted sister species, the Chaco eagle, as one of the larger living members of the Buteoninae subfamily, although the black-chested buzzard-eagle is similar or only marginally smaller in weight, while large Milvini from the genus Haliaeetus and Icthyophaga (such as the Steller's sea eagle) can be significantly larger.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Solitary Eagle

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Solitary Eagle

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 10 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Peru Colombia Ecuador Belize Venezuela Bolivia Argentina Mexico Panama Nicaragua

Recorded as a rare visitor in Costa Rica, Brazil, French Guiana, Guatemala.

About the Solitary Eagle

The solitary eagle or montane solitary eagle is a large Neotropical eagle. It is also known as the black solitary eagle.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Rufous Crab HawkButeogallus aequinoctialisThe rufous crab hawk is 42.5 to 46 cm (17 to 18 in) in overall length with a 90 to 106 cm (35 to 42 in) wingspan.

White-necked HawkButeogallus lacernulatusThe white-necked hawk is 43 to 48 cm (17 to 19 in) long with a 91 to 101 cm (36 to 40 in) wingspan.

Chaco EagleButeogallus coronatusThe Chaco eagle is a large raptor with a mostly dull and silvery grey body plumage.

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