The Accipitridae is one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found on all the world's continents and a number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory. The family contains 256 species which are divided into 12 subfamilies and 75 genera.
The golden eagle is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and large, sharp talons to hunt a variety of prey, mainly hares, rabbits, and marmots and other ground squirrels. Golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as 200 km2 (77 sq mi). They build large nests in cliffs and other high places to which they may return for several breeding years. Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Females lay up to four eggs, and then incubate them for six weeks. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months. These juvenile golden eagles usually attain full independence in the fall, after which they wander widely until establishing a territory for themselves in four to five years.
The booted eagle is a medium-sized mostly migratory bird of prey with a wide distribution in the Palearctic and southern Asia, wintering in the tropics of Africa and Asia, with a small, disjunct breeding population in south-western Africa. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.
Circaetinae is a subfamily of the family Accipitridae which contains a group of medium to large broad-winged birds of prey. The group is sometimes treated as tribe Circaetini. These birds mainly specialise in feeding on snakes and other reptiles, which is the reason most are referred to as "snake-eagles" or "serpent-eagles". The exceptions are the bateleur, a more generalised hunter, and the Philippine eagle, which preys on mammals and birds.
The crested serpent eagle is a medium-sized bird of prey that is found in forested habitats across tropical Asia. Within its widespread range across the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and East 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, Andaman serpent eagle and South Nicobar serpent eagle were treated as subspecies of the Crested serpent eagle. All members within the species complex have a large looking head with long feathers on the back of the head giving them a maned and crested appearance. The face is bare and yellow joining up with the ceres while the powerful feet are unfeathered and heavily scaled. They fly over the forest canopy on broad wings and tail have wide white and black bars. They call often with a loud, piercing and familiar three or two-note call. They often feed on snakes, giving them their name and are placed along with the Circaetus snake-eagles in the subfamily Circaetinae.
Bonelli's eagle is a large bird of prey. The common name of the bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist and collector Franco Andrea Bonelli. Bonelli is credited with gathering the type specimen, most likely from an exploration of Sardinia. Some antiquated texts also refer to this species as the crestless hawk-eagle. Like all eagles, Bonelli's eagle belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its feathered legs marked it as member of the Aquilinae or booted eagle subfamily. This species breeds from Southern Europe, Africa on the montane perimeter of the Sahara Desert, and across the Indian Subcontinent to Indonesia. In Eurasia, this species may be found as far west as Portugal and as far east as southeastern China and Thailand. It is usually a resident breeder. Bonelli's eagle is often found in hilly or mountainous habitats, with rocky walls or crags, from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Habitats are often open to wooded land and can occur in arid to semi-moist climate. This eagle, though it can be considered partially opportunistic, is something of a specialist predator of certain birds and mammals, especially rabbits, galliforms and pigeons. On evidence, when staple prey populations decline or are locally scarce, Bonelli's eagle switch to being an opportunistic predator of a wide variety of birds. Despite its persistence over a large range and its continued classification as a least concern species by the IUCN, Bonelli's eagle has declined precipitously in various parts of its range, including almost all of its European distribution, and may face potential local extinction. The species' declines are due to widespread habitat destruction, electrocution from electricity pylons as well as persistent persecution.
Verreaux's eagle is a large, mostly African, bird of prey. It is also called the black eagle, especially in southern Africa, not to be confused with the black eagle of south and southeast Asia. The Verreaux's eagle lives in hilly and mountainous regions of southern and eastern Africa, and very locally in the Middle East.
The ornate hawk-eagle is a fairly large bird of prey from the tropical Americas. Formerly, some authorities referred to this species as the crested hawk-eagle, a name that may cause some confusion as it is more commonly used for an Asian eagle species. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. This species has a feathered tarsus that marks it as a member of the Aquilinae or booted eagle subfamily. This species is notable for the vivid colors and bold markings of adults, which differ considerably from the far more whitish plumage of the juvenile bird. The ornate hawk-eagle ranges from central Mexico south through much of Central America and in a somewhat spotty but broad overall range into South America, including in the west apart from the Andes and broadly on the Atlantic side especially Brazil down to as far as Southeast Brazil and northern Argentina. This species is found largely in primary forests with tall trees, although can be found in many forest types.
Aquila is the genus of true eagles. The genus name is Latin for "eagle", possibly derived from aquilus, "dark in colour". It is often united with the sea eagles, buteos, and other more heavyset Accipitridae, but more recently they appear to be less distinct from the slenderer accipitrine hawks than previously believed. Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable vertebrate prey.
Spizaetus is the typical hawk-eagle birds of prey genus found in the tropics of the Americas. It was however used to indicate a group of tropical eagles that included species occurring in southern and southeastern Asia and one representative of this genus in the rainforests of West Africa. The Old World species have been separated into the genus Nisaetus. Several species have a prominent head crest. These are medium to large-sized raptors, most being between 55 and 75 cm long, and tend to be long-tailed and slender.
The genus Hieraaetus, sometimes known as small eagles or hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the accipitrid subfamilies Buteoninae or Aquilinae.
The Congo serpent eagle is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Dryotriorchis, although it was formerly placed in Circaetus. This species is distributed across the African tropical rainforest, including upper and lower Guinean forests. This serpent eagle specializes in hunting in these forests’ dark understories. It has two subspecies, the nominate subspecies Dryotriorchis spectabilis spectabilis and Dryotriorchis spectabilis batesi. Though monotypic, it appears to be very closely related to Circaetus. This hawk is a medium-sized bird with distinctive short, rounded wings and a long, rounded tail. It is varying shades of brown on its back and has a slight crest. Its breast is white with variable amounts of a rufous wash and, in the nominate subspecies, is covered in round, blackish spots. The subspecies D. s. batesi only has these dots on its flanks. The Congo serpent eagle closely resembles Cassin's hawk-eagle, and some ornithologists believe that this likeness is a rare example of avian mimicry. It is a very vocal raptor, and often is one of the most heard species in its habitat.
The pygmy eagle or New Guinea hawk-eagle is a bird of prey found in New Guinea. Its natural habitats are primarily subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is the one of the smallest species of eagle.
The black-and-chestnut eagle, also known as Isidor's eagle, is a large South American species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is often placed in the monotypic genus Oroaetus. However, recent genetic testing indicates that this species is fairly closely related to Spizaetus species and thus the species should be included in that genus. The black-and-chestnut eagle is a typical forest raptor, hunting primarily small to medium-sized mammals and birds and constructing a large nest in a tall tree. Unfortunately, the twin causes of habitat destruction and persecution, justified or not as an occasional poultry killer, have caused strong population declines and the black-and-chestnut eagle is considered to be an Endangered species by the IUCN.
The Andaman serpent eagle, also known as the Andaman dark-serpent eagle or the dark serpent eagle, is a medium-sized bird in the family Accipitridae, the raptor family, that is only found in India on the Andaman Islands. It is currently classified as vulnerable and is experiencing population declines. This species, unlike the Crested serpent eagle, is incredibly understudied and so many things about its behaviour and ecology are still widely unknown.
Spilornis is a genus of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. As adults all have dark crowns, and bright yellow eyes and cere. These medium-sized raptors are found in forests of southern Asia and are known as serpent-eagles, an English name shared with two African species from the genera Dryotriorchis and Eutriorchis.
Cassin's hawk-eagle or Cassin's eagle, is a relatively small eagle in the family Accipitridae. Its feathered legs mark it as member of the Aquilinae or booted eagle subfamily. A forest-dependent species, it occurs in primary rainforests across western, central and (marginally) eastern Africa where it preys on birds and tree squirrels. It was named after John Cassin who first described it in 1865. Due to widespread habitat destruction, its populations are steadily declining but have not yet warranted upgrading its status from Least Concern.
The Aquilinae are a subfamily of eagles of the family Accipitridae. The general common name used for members of this subfamily is "booted eagle", although this is also the common name of a member of the subfamily. At one point, this subfamily was considered inclusive with the Buteoninae based probably on some shared morphological characteristics. However, research on the DNA of the booted eagles has shown that they are a monophyletic group that probably have had millions of years of separation from other extant forms of accipitrid.
Booted eagles are eagles that have fully feathered tarsi. That is, their legs are covered with feathers down to the feet. Most other accipitrids have bare lower legs, scaled rather than feathered.
