Why booted eagle

Pair bonds last all the life. They usually reuse the same nest-site every year. During the winter, these raptors live more solitary, and they gather again in the early spring for courtship displays. The Booted Eagle is mainly migratory, leaving the breeding areas in September, and coming back in March-April. It spends most of the time in the air. Usually, the nest is built in a tree, in thickets or in isolated tree.

In some parts of the range, as in Africa, they may nest on ledges, or in small trees on cliff faces. The nest is large, with 70 cm of diameter and 30 cm of thickness. It is made with sticks and twigs, and lined with green leaves, renewed during the nesting period. The female usually lays two eggs, at two or three days intervals. Incubation lasts about 37 to 40 days, by female. She is fed by the male during the entire period and even several days more.

The booted eagle Hieraaetus pennatus, also classified as Aquila pennata is a medium-sized mostly migratory bird of prey with a wide distribution in the Palearctic and southern Asia, wintering in the tropics of Africa and Asia, with a small, disjunct breeding population in south-western Africa. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.

The booted is a small eagle, comparable to the common buzzard in size though more eagle-like in shape. There are two relatively distinct plumage forms. Pale birds are mainly light grey with a darker head and flight feathers. The other form has mid-brown plumage with dark grey flight feathers. The northern populations are migratory spending November to February in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while the small southern African populations is sedentary.

This is a species of wooded, often hilly countryside with some open areas, it breeds in rocky, broken terrain but migrants will use almost any type of habitat other than dense forest. Wintering birds from Palearctic regions tend to prefer flat plains and open woodland. Their range spans from southern Europe to southern Central Asia and the Middle East, with a narrower range extending across Iran, the Himalayas, and Mongolia. There are also breeding populations in Namibia and South Africa.

Eurasian populations are migratory and winter in sub-Saharan Arica and the Indian subcontinent, leaving their northern range in late August and usually deserting them by mid-October. They return in March and early April. Their diet consists of a wide range of animals including birds, small mammals, reptiles, rodents, amphibians, and insects.

Nest-robbing has also been recorded. Booted Eagles hunt by perching from a lookout or on the ground, or by circling open country at meters. They occasionally chase birds in and out of the tree canopy, though much of their prey is caught on the ground. They have also been known to hunt near villages and cities. Breeding displays consist of dives and upward swoops and the pair will often call to each other, sometimes claw-grappling—where the male dives at the female, who flips over and presents her talons.

Their flight can be so extreme that they enter loops that are almost entirely vertical. The nest is built out of sticks and lined with leaves or conifer needles and is set on a large branch of a tree, cliff ledge, or crag, meters up.

Their feathers have been used by warriors, religious, kings and emperors, in order to enjoy some of its powers. From the mythology to our century, people have always been impressed by these wonderful raptors, the masters of the sky!

To study these wonderful eagles is the main goal of this article about the tenth group of the family Accipitridae. First part: Genus Ictinaetus and Genus Aquila. Second part: Genus Hieraaetus. Golden Eagle Aquila chrysateos. Black Eagle Ictinaetus malaiensis.