Thursday, March 13, 2014

Black-chested Snake Eagle

Black-chested Snake Eagle Circaetus pectoralis
On the Road to Bogol Manyo, Ethiopia
17 January 2014

    This is a large snake-eagle and looks especially fearsome with its big, glaring yellow eyes. As its name implies it feeds principally on snakes, whether venomous or not. Smaller prey is killed on the ground and consumed whole in the air; larger prey is torn apart and eaten on the ground, or carried to a convenient perch. It perches on dead trees, poles or pylons - any convenient platform from which to scan the ground for prey. It walks easily on the ground and upon spotting prey crushes it with its powerful feet.
    As you may see from these photographs this individual was perched close to the road and appeared quite unconcerned by our presence.





Marcadores: , ,
David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

7 comments:

  1. Irma13 March 2014 at 10:04

    Beautiful pictures of this beautiful species.
    The first one is my favorite.
    Greetings Irma

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dział Przyrody MŚO13 March 2014 at 16:04

    Wow, this is a great bird of prey. His eyes are beautiful!!!!
    We've included the link of your interesting blog on our blog.
    David, we wish you all the best and many interesting bird observations :-)
    Greetings/ Michał and Piotr from Poland

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sonja13 March 2014 at 23:16

    I agree with Dzial that the eyes are beautiful. It has a mild look for a raptor!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Noushka14 March 2014 at 05:23

    Unconcerned??
    Lucky for you!!
    Probably very concerned with a prey in the vicinity and you were blocking his view! LOL!!
    Wonderful shots and a gorgeous bird with its white chest!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tinie14 March 2014 at 14:14

    Beautiful pictures of the Eagle, clear and sharp.
    Nice weekend, gr. Tinie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Helma16 March 2014 at 16:01

    Truly beautiful. What a beautiful bird of prey!

    ReplyDelete

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