Crested Serpent Eagle

Thanks, everyone for the overwhelming response to the “Diwali for All” blog. The thought of uplifting the villagers received a huge round of applaud and many of you have shown the positive response for helping them in the future as well. On behalf of the villagers and our wildlife group big thanks to each one of you. 

Let me start today by wishing you A very happy and prosperous new year. After the festival, I am opting to start with a bird we all know by name but in reality, many don't know them correctly so I will brief you on Eagle, in particular, I will be talking about Crested Serpent Eagle because there are around 19 popular species of eagles out of 60 various types hence picking up one of them here.

The Common Mistake

As I said we all know this bird by name but we do not know this bird in reality, the most common mistake we do is we consider all raptors as an eagle. Commonly found Kites are always known as an eagle, (we teach our kids the same) until I started wildlife I used to do the same mistake. Buzzards, Kites, Shikra, etc are always treated as “Eagle” so I decided to pick up Eagle as a topic to clarify the common mistake we do. Crested Serpent Eagle was my first sighting on entering my first wildlife safari at Nagzira, so it is closed to my heart. During this trip itself, Jogi educated me that Eagle is different from Kite and updated some facts of this bird, which I will update you in the next section. 

Facts File

The crested serpent eagle also is known as Spilornis cheela is a medium-sized bird of prey that is found in forested habitats across tropical Asia

There are considerable variations and some authorities prefer to treat several of its subspecies as completely separate species. In the past, several species including the Philippine serpent eagle (S. holospila), Andaman serpent eagle (S. Elgini) and South Nicobar serpent eagle (S. klossi) were treated as subspecies of the Crested serpent eagle

The crested serpent eagle, as its English name suggests, is a reptile eater which hunts over forests, often close to wet grassland for snakes and lizards,  It has also been observed to prey on birds, amphibians, mammals and fishes

A radio-telemetric study of the species in Taiwan found that the birds spend 98% of the day perched and usually finding food in the morning hours. They appear to use a sit and wait for foraging strategy

Crested serpent eagles are medium-sized raptors. They range in length from 55 to 76 cm, and their wingspan ranges from 109 to 169 cm

They can weigh anywhere from 420 to 1800 g. When perched, an adult appears overall dark brown with an almost black 'hood' on the head and neck. The breast and belly are brown with white mottling. The crest is black with some white flecks is very prominent when raised

Crested serpent eagles mate in monogamous pairs and remain in pairs throughout the year. Courtship displays consist of pairs soaring and calling together. These courtship flights may include rolling and wing vibrating

Crested serpent eagles communicate with one another using vocal cues and aerial displays. Their courtship display is complex involving multiple diving runs and mutual soaring with the head and tail feathers raised

Crested serpent eagles eat a significant amount of snakes, including species harmful to humans. They also eat small rodents that can have adverse effects on crop production

I hope now you will easily distinguish between an eagle and other raptors, for easy reference, you can check out DSLR section as well

Learning of the day

State Animal of Maharashtra

Indian Giant Squirrel –

The Indian giant squirrel, or Malabar giant squirrel, (Ratufa indica) is a large tree squirrel species in the genus Ratufa native to India

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section