Águila Ventrirroja

Identificación

Adult rufous-bellied eagles are distinctive in their pattern. They have a black hood with a short crest. Chestnut underparts and wing coverts contrast with the white on the throat and breast. The sexes are almost indistinguishable in plumage but females are slightly larger and have more black on the face. They perch in a very upright stance and the wingtip almost reaches the tail. The tarsus is fully feathered. Juveniles have very white underparts with dark markings on the sides of the body, head mask and edge of underwing coverts. They can appear similar to a booted eagle (Aquila pennata). In flight, the underwing lining is dark and the greater coverts are black. The flight feathers are thinly barred with a black edge. The tail is dark and barred.

Taxonomía

This eagle was originally described as Astur kienerii on the basis of a specimen from the Himalayas. It was later moved to Limnaetus by Jerdon, the genus Lophotriorchis and still later to Hieraaetus, the so-called "hawk-eagles". A study of the phylogeny of some Hieraaetus species and other eagles indicated that they were nested within the Aquila clade of eagles, resulting in their repositioning. Another molecular study of the eagles suggested that kienerii was distinctive enough to be retained in a separate genus for which the name Kienastur had been suggested but as this occurred in a thesis it is invalid for taxonomic purposes, and in any case Lophotriorchis was proposed much earlier (though originally shared with the Black-and-chestnut eagle which is nowadays placed in Spizaetus).<p>Within its wide range, two subspecies are recognized although there is no marked plumage difference. The nominate kienerii of India and Sri Lanka (the northern birds are larger); and formosus described by Erwin Stresemann in 1924 which is widely distributed across Southeast Asia from Burma to Sulawesi.<p>The species name was given by Count Louis Ernest Gustave de Sparre (1802-1866) and honours the French naturalist Louis Charles Kiener (1799-1881).

Nombre científico

Lophotriorchis kienerii

Autoridad

(de Sparre, 1835)

Orden

Accipitriformes

Familia

Accipitridae

Género

Lophotriorchis

Distribución y hábitat

The rufous-bellied eagle is found in southern and south-eastern Asia and its range also extends to Sulawesi.<p>This species is associated mainly with hill forests. In India, they are commoner in the Western Ghats than along the Himalayas where they occur from Nepal to Assam. They also occur in parts of the Eastern Ghats.

Migración

Especie residente

Comportamiento

Patrón migratorio: Especie residente.

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional: en declive.

Tendencia poblacional

en declive