Immature © Mariann Cyr
Immature © Rita Stowell
Adult © Volker Hesse
Immature © Peter de Hoog

Kratkorepi zmijar Terathopius ecaudatus

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Identification

POWERED BY MERLIN

A very distinctive, short-tailed eagle. Young birds are uniformly dark brown, and adults are mostly black with a bright red face and legs. Sexes differ, especially in flight, and can be told by the width of the black band on the back edge of the white underwing: narrow in females, broad in males. It flies low when foraging, with wings lifted above the body and rocking from left to right in an unstable-looking fashion. Bateleurs hunt small animals and eat carrion, and they are often among the first raptors to arrive at a carcass.

POWERED BY MERLIN