When our guide in Kaziranga NP called our attention to a Pallas's fish-eagle, I'd surprisingly heard of it before. When we visited Botswana years before I recalled reading about sightings of this eagle which were very unusual for that area. That peaked my interest at this time.
It is a bird of prey of Asia, including Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. It is rare and isolated throughout its range and is rated Endangered by the IUCN.
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| This nesting Pallas's fish-eagle was found in the Central Range of Kaziranga. My other photos of it are very blurry. |
Wikipedia describes it as having a, "light sandy-brown hood and a whitish face. The wings are darker brown and the back rufous. The long, slender wings (particularly slender for a sea eagle) are rather dark brown underneath. The tail is black with a wide, distinctive white stripe. Juveniles are overall darker, cooler brown with no band on the tail but with several pale areas on the wing, including the underwing coverts and inner primaries. This results in underwings that have a white band in young fish eagles. It takes until the 4th year or so to obtain adult plumage."
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| We saw this Pallas's fish-eagle in the Western Range of Kaziranga NP. |
It primarily eats freshwater fish.
Big, beautiful bird. I'm surprised by the many varieties of eagles.
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