Bird Photography · The Indian List
Eagles
4 of 17 species photographed
Seventeen species carry the name in India, and they have very little in common beyond size. Serpent-eagles sit hunched in the canopy and scream at the sky. Hawk-eagles are forest ambush hunters with crests. The Aquila eagles are birds of open country, heavy and slow to rise, and half of them only appear here in winter. Grouping them together is a convenience rather than a claim about relatedness.
What they share, photographically, is scale. An eagle fills the frame at distances where a smaller raptor would be a speck, which sounds like an advantage and is not: you get one bird against a lot of empty sky, and the picture lives or dies on what the wings are doing. A soaring eagle photographed flat from below is a specimen shot. The frame worth waiting for is the bank, when the underwing pattern opens up and the light comes through the flight feathers.
Most of them also perch for long periods, which is the other way in. A hawk-eagle on an exposed branch in early light will sit long enough for you to work the angle properly — rare among raptors, and worth taking advantage of when it happens.
17Species in India
4Photographed
Forest to open plainWhere to look
UnderwingWhat to shoot for
Perch and soarHow to find them
The species
Crested Serpent-Eagle
Yet to uploadAndaman Serpent-Eagle
Not yet foundShort-toed Snake-Eagle
Circaetus gallicus3 frames- Status
- Resident and winter visitor
- Range
- Widespread in drier open country
- Habitat
- Open scrub, dry cultivation and thinly wooded plains
- IUCN
- Least Concern
Big pale eagle with a large rounded head and a startling yellow eye. Hunts snakes, and hovers heavily while doing it. From below it is mostly white with a dark hood and finely barred flight feathers.
FM0110
Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh
Legge's Hawk-Eagle
Yet to uploadMountain Hawk-Eagle
Nisaetus nipalensis1 frame- Status
- Resident
- Range
- The Himalayan foothills and hill forests, east through the Northeast
- Habitat
- Dense hill and montane forest, hunting over the canopy and forest edge
- IUCN
- Least Concern
A large, heavily built hawk-eagle with a short, bushy crest and boldly barred flight feathers and tail, best told in flight by the broad, deep-fingered wings held slightly forward and the heavily barred underside lit up when it banks. Juveniles are much paler-headed than adults. Told from the more widespread Changeable Hawk-Eagle by bulkier build, broader wings and heavier barring below; Legge's Hawk-Eagle is very similar again and the three can be a genuine identification problem where ranges overlap.
FM0256
Eaglenest Pass, West Kameng, Arunachal PradeshBanking overhead in soaring flight, wings and tail fully fanned and backlit against the sky.
Changeable Hawk-Eagle
Nisaetus cirrhatus2 frames- Status
- Resident
- Range
- Widespread in the wooded parts of the subcontinent
- Habitat
- Open forest and forest edge, often near clearings and water
- IUCN
- Least Concern
Two forms occur — a crested form with a long upright plume, and a crestless form. Both are heavily streaked below when young and become plainer with age. The commonest large forest eagle over much of India.
FM0113
Uma Maheswaram, Nagarkurnool, Telangana
Rufous-bellied Eagle
Yet to uploadBlack Eagle
Yet to uploadIndian Spotted Eagle
Yet to uploadGreater Spotted Eagle
Yet to uploadBooted Eagle
Hieraaetus pennatus1 frame- Status
- Winter visitor
- Range
- Widespread but thinly spread
- Habitat
- Open and wooded country, often over hills
- IUCN
- Least Concern
A small eagle, buzzard-sized, in pale and dark morphs. The pale morph is very white below with dark flight feathers; the dark morph is uniform brown. Both show small white 'landing lights' at the leading edge of the wing where it meets the body.
FM0115
Osman Sagar, Hyderabad, TelanganaPale morph. Identification not certain — a juvenile Short-toed Snake-Eagle is not excluded.
Steppe Eagle
Yet to uploadImperial Eagle
Yet to uploadTawny Eagle
Yet to uploadGolden Eagle
Not yet foundBonelli's Eagle
Yet to uploadPhotographs by Fareed Mohmed