Gray-headed Fish-Eagle
Icthyophaga ichthyaetus
Fierce-looking brown-and-white fish-eater. Note adult’s contrasting white belly and white tail with a broad black bar across the tip. Juvenile is paler overall, with a streaked brown breast and barred underwings. Smaller Lesser Fish-Eagle has a less contrasting tail pattern and typically a more jagged-edged white belly patch in adults; juveniles average paler below overall. Gray-headed forages around rivers, lakes, and swamplands. Vocal; often detected by its hoarse yelping screams.
Identification
A smallish to medium-sized but quite bulky fish eagle. Has a small bill, a small head on long neck, rounded tail and shortish legs with unfeathered tarsi and long talons. Wings aren't 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. Females are heavier than males at 2.3–2.7 kg compared to 1.6 kg. The tail measures between 23–28 cm and the tarsus 8.5–10 cm. The wingspan measure between 155–170 cm.<p>Adults are grey-brown with a pale grey head and pale iris, belly and tail are white with the having a broad black subterminal band. Breast and neck are brown, with the wings on top dark brown with blacker primaries and below brown. Juveniles the head and neck are brown, greyer on the ides of throat, with buff supercilia and whitish streaks. The rest of the upperparts are darker brown, edged with grey and secondaries and tertials faintly barred. Tail black and white marbled with broader dark subterminal band and white tip. Belly and thighs white, while breast and flanks brown streaked with white. Iris is darker than adult. As juveniles mature subterminal band becomes more prominent, head becomes greyer and loses streaking becoming uniformly brown.
Taxonomy
The grey-headed fish eagle is included in the order Accipitriformes and the family Accipitridae, which includes most birds of prey except for the ospreys and falcons. Lerner & Mindell placed the grey-headed fish eagle in the subfamily Haliaeetinae, which includes the genera Haliaeetus (sea eagles) It was first described by Horsfield in 1841 as Falco ichthyaetus. This paraphyletic group forms a close sister relationship with the subfamily Milvinae (composed of two genera, Milvus and Haliatur), based on the shared trait of basal fusion of the second and third phalanges found only in these two groups. Some taxonomic authorities place this species in the monotypic genus Ichthyophaga.
- Scientific name
- Icthyophaga ichthyaetus
- Authority
- (Horsfield, 1821)
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Icthyophaga
Range and habitat
The grey-headed fish eagle has a wide distribution (38˚ N to 6˚ S) that encompasses India and South-East Asia to Malaysia, Western Indonesia and Philippines. It is generally uncommon but can be rare or local. In North and East India it is found in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam. It is uncommon in North and East Sri Lanka, rare and local in Nepal and uncommon and local in Bangladesh. It is rare and local in South Thailand and rare in Laos; scarce in Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia to Sumatra; very rare in Java and Sulawesi except for a small local population and scarce in Borneo and the Philippines.<p>Grey-headed fish eagles live in lowland forest up to 1,500 m above sea-level. Their nests are close to bodies of water such as slow-moving rivers and streams, lakes, lagoons, reservoirs, marshes, swamps and coastal lagoons and estuaries. They are also known to frequent irrigation tanks in Sri Lanka, hence where their alternate English in Sri Lanka comes from.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-breasted Puffleg
Eriocnemis nigrivestis
Rare and critically endangered hummingbird endemic to Ecuador. Known only from a few mountains west and north of Quito. Male is dark bluish-green with white leg puffs and a blue vent. Female is brighter green with a golden tinge and has a blue throat patch and vent. Might be mistaken for the larger Sapphire-vented Puffleg but lacks blue on crown and has a shorter tail. Inhabits high elevation forest, where it feeds on small, tubular flowers. Most often encountered in the Yanacocha Reserve; occasionally visits feeders.
Ascension Frigatebird
Fregata aquila
A huge black bird with a very long hooked bill and a long, trailing deeply forked tail. Soars on giant wings, often harassing other birds to steal their food. Male is entirely black with a limited red throat. Female is black with a wide reddish chest band. Almost identical to Magnificent Frigatebird, but slightly smaller, with a more limited red throat patch. Lacks the pale upperwing panel of Great Frigatebird. Female is the only entirely dark female frigatebird; reddish chest band is diagnostic. Mostly pelagic.
Sooty Shrikethrush
Colluricincla tenebrosa
A little-known, medium-sized bird of mid-montane forest thickets. Overall deep, sooty-brown color. Perches for long periods, scanning for insects. Skulking and difficult to see. Similar to Black Pitohui, and somewhere between the color of the black male and brown female, but Sooty Shrikethrush is smaller. Similar size various species of the Little Shrike-Thrush complex, but darker and found at higher elevation. Voice is little known, but apparently gives a loud, metallic alarm call.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.