Indian Spotted Eagle

The Indian spotted eagle is broad-headed, with the widest mouth of all spotted eagles. This species has a lighter coloration overall compared to its relatives, with a darker iris that makes the eyes appear darker than the plumage. Adults can be told apart from the greater spotted eagle by its lighter color, darker eyes, and habitat preference. After about three or four months the young birds are glossy brown with the tips of the head and neck feathers being creamy and giving a spotted appearance. The upper tail coverts are light brown with white giving a barred appearance. The median coverts have large creamy spots. After about eighteen months the bird moults and becomes a darker shade and has less spots. Some older juveniles, unlike the lesser and greater species, are not strongly spotted at all, making the common name somewhat misleading, and also lack the creamy buff nape patch of the juvenile lesser spotted eagle.

Distribution and habitat

The Indian spotted eagle is native to Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Nepal. It occurs in agricultural landscapes and tropical dry forests.

Systematics, Taxonomy and evolution

The Indian spotted eagle was earlier considered as the resident of eastern subspecies of the lesser spotted eagle but has proven quite distinct and readily separable by morphological, behavioral, ecological and DNA sequence data. The Indian lineage seems to have diverged around the middle Pliocene, perhaps some 3.6 million years ago, from the common ancestor of the lesser and greater spotted eagles. The "proto-spotted eagle" probably lived in the general region of Afghanistan, being split into a northern and a southern lineage when both glaciers and deserts advanced in Central Asia as the last ice age began.

The spotted eagles as a group although quite distinct from the typical members, were formerly included in the genus Aquila, the "true eagles". They are now placed in their separate genus Clanga.

Hunting

Most of their diet is mammals, which are caught on the ground. They also eat frogs and birds.

Conservation status

Indian Spotted Eagles are currently listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife International due to a small, declining population. The cause of the drop in numbers is, at least in part, habitat conversion; more research is needed to determine other factors and the exact rate of decline.