Crested Hawk Eagle

The Crested Hawk-Eagle with the scientific name of Nisaetus cirrhatus is

one of the bird of prey species which belongs to the family Accipitridae.

It is one of the predatory species in India. It is otherwise called as Changeable Hawk-eagle. It formerly belonged to the genus Spizaetus. The quick classification of this crested hawk eagle is given below,

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Accipitriformes
Family	Accipitridae
Genus	Nisaetus
Species	Nisaetus cirrhatus

Physical Characteristics:

The Crested Hawk Eagle is one of the medium-large raptor. The length of this crested Hawk Eagle is 60 to 72 centimeters (24 to 28 in). The Wing span of crested Hawk Eagle is 127 to 138 centimeters. Weight of this crested Hawk Eagle is 1300 to 1900 g. The Adult Crested Hawk eagles upper parts are brown in colour. The wings of this species are paler. Tail is in pale brown colour. It has brown wing feathers and has a broad black tip.
Its breast is white and flanks are streaked with dark brown colour. It also has a read buff flanks. This crested hawk eagle is one of the slender birds which have short and rounded wings and tail. The eyes of this species are in yellow colour. It' fleet also is in yellow colour. It's chin is of white colour. It has streaked black colour throat. It has a hooked bill which is grayish yellow.

Both male and female crested hawk eagles look similar.

But female crested hawk eagle is slightly larger than male crested hawk eagle. Young crested hawk eagles are whiter than the adult one and its under parts are less marked.
Changeable Hawk-eagle's call is "kleee-klee-ek". Sometimes it makes a call like "ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-keeee".

Behaviour:

Crested Hawk eagle used to hunt from concealed perch. It always catches its preys on the ground. But some of the crested hawk eagles catch its prey in trees. It often uses the same perch by sitting upright. We may find this crested hawk eagle along the edges of large trees, hunting from there out into the open forest and near streams. Most of the crested hawk eagles are perched within cover and they spend most of their time perched than flying. Since, Crested Hawk eagle is a medium sized bird, it can kill large preys. It flies from one perch to another.

Habitat:

The Crested Hawk eagle is commonly found in tropical moist deciduous to evergreen and semi evergreen forest. It prefers the habitat which includes tall forests, woodlands, farmlands, grasslands and urban areas. These crested hawk eagles live in places like savannahs, cultivated lands with trees and open lands. It can be seen in the suburban edges. It is commonly seen up to 1500 meters from the ground.

Migration:

These crested hawk eagles are considered as a local migrant. They usually migrate with their juveniles from the breeding areas.

Food Habits:

Crested Hawk eagle takes variety of preys such as large birds, mammals, reptiles like snakes and lizards, rats, squirrels, mice, frogs, doves, large insects such as mantis and stick insects, mammals and some small birds. Sometimes it may eat large birds as well.

This crested hawk eagle is one of the commonly seen birds in Western and Central India.

It is often found in Himachal, Assam Valley, eastern and southern Bangladesh, Southern Assam Hills, Gujarat, Nepal through Myanmar and Eastern Rajasthan through the southern Gangetic plain to south western Bengal, Punjab and Kolkata.
This crested hawk eagles are found in the following sanctuaries in India.

Places Found

1. Bandipur National Park in Karnataka State.
2. BR hills Wild Life Sanctuary in Karnataka State.
3. Nagarhole National Park in the Karnataka State.
4. Satpura National Park in Madhya Pradesh Pradesh.

Mating and Nesting:

The Crested Hawk eagle used to breed between December and April. Most of these species lay the eggs in January or mid February. These species has a restricted courtship display. These crested hawk eagles used to build their nest in a large tree. It builds its nest by using sticks, lined with fresh green leaves and rim. Usually, in these species pair has only one nest. These nests are used by the same pair year after year.

The crested hawk eagle's nest is located at 40 feet height in a tree. They prefer the trees nearby streams. Both male and female involve in the nest building activity. Female lays one single egg at a time. The egg is white or grayish white in colour and has slight specks in light reddish colour. Only female is involved in the incubation activity. The incubation period for this crested hawk eagle is 40 days. The young crested hawk eagle is fledged about 65 to 70 days after hatching.

Threats and conservation

The crested hawk eagle is one of the most widespread species in India. The main reason for the threats of this crested hawk eagle is habitat loss. These species are categorized as "least concern" by the Bird life international council.

There are five races of crested hawk eagle present in India. The quick classification of this crested hawk eagle subspecies is given below,

1. Spizaetus cirrhatus andamanensis
2. Spizaetus cirrhatus ceylanensis
3. Spizaetus cirrhatus cirrhatus
4. Spizaetus cirrhatus limnaeetus
5. Spizaetus cirrhatus vanheurni

Interesting facts about Crested Hawk Eagle

1. The other common name for this crested hawk eagle is Ceylon Hawk Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle (limnaetus), Changeable Hawk-eagle (limnaetus), Crested Hawk Eagle, Indian Crested Hawk-eagle, Marsh Hawk-eagle, Spizaetus cirrhatus.
2. Most of the crested hawk eagle hunt alone. Few of these species hunt with pair. One of these pair flushes out the prey and another one strikes the prey.
3. This crested hawk eagle does not breed every year.