I believe I saw this brown snake-eagle from the boat I took on the Victoria Nile from Paraa to Murchison Falls and back (in Murchison Falls NP). It is a fairly dark hazel brown, has a shortish tail barred brown and grayish cream. It is larger and more powerful than other snake eagles and takes larger prey, including reasonably sized snakes, harmless or venomous. They have thick-skinned legs to protect them from snake bites. At a nest in Zimbabwe, three of four snake species recorded were venomous, including boomslang, puff adder and black-necked spitting cobra. Most of the snakes taken to the nest were decapitated. A large puff adder weighing 1.65 pounds was recorded and there are accounts of them hunting black mambas up to 9 feet, 2 inches long. They usually swallow their prey whole, although large snakes are torn apart. They usually perch on the top of a prominent tree or on a hill and rarely change their perch. They do eat other prey, including monitor lizards, toads, francolilns, guineafowl, rats and other mammals.
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| Illustration from Birds of the World. |
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| Range from Birds of the World. |
It is somewhat scarce and possibly declining, but persisting fairly strongly over a large range, so it is of Least Concern by the IUCN.
There's something about it that makes it look not too smart, supported by the fact that it eats snakes (and swallows them whole).
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