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Bonelli's Eagles are relatively large raptors, but only medium-sized eagles. The sexes are alike, although females are both larger and heavier than males. The underparts, from chin to vent, are light-grey, with darker grey streaking. The undertail coverts are barred white/dark-grey, while the undertail is grey with a wide black terminal band. Many individuals have a patch on the mantle in the same colours; others lack that feature in their plumage. The legs are completely feathered, also in the same shades of grey. Their underwings have prominent dark-grey wing bars behind a grey, streaked leading edge, out to the carpal joint; the primary flight feathers and the tips of the secondaries and tertiaries are black, leading to an all-black outer fringe on the underwings. The rest of the wing is light- to mid-grey. Bonelli's Eagles glide with projecting carpal and straight trailing wing edge. The top of the head, the hindneck and the back are dark grey-brown. The upperwing coverts have rufous outer edges and dark-grey centres, leading to a scalloped appearance. The irises are orange-brown. The strong, hooked bill is yellow, with a dark-grey tip. The feet are yellow-orange. Juveniles have rufous-buff underparts, with dark streaking on the throat and chest, and rufous-buff underwing coverts, of which the primary coverts have dark tips. The primaries are dark-grey, while the rest of the flight feathers are mid-grey with fine darker barring. The undertail shows the same mid-grey colour with fine darker barring. There is no underwing bar yet. When worn, the underparts can become very pale, in a mixture of ruff and grey. The upperparts are similar to those of adults, only a bit lighter and more rufous. Over the course of 4 years, the body first becomes darker with the appearance of dark streaks, before the rufous parts later turn grey. The dark underwing bar becomes visible gradually, with the carpal spot developing first and the rest keeping a ragged, blotchy appearance until breeding age is reached. The upperparts do not change prominently.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of Bonelli's Eagle is available HERE .

Bonelli's Eagles are sedentary throughout their range. Their overall distribution is patchy (see e.g. Wikipedia ). It ranges from the Atlas mountain range in North-west Africa, via parts of the Mediterranean and isolated areas in the Middle East, Arabia and South-west Asia to parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and most of India (except a wide coastal strip along the East coast of the subcontinent). They are also present in parts of Thailand and along a wide strip along the coastline of southern to central China. There is also a population in eastern Indonesia.

In Europe Bonelli's Eagle is present only in the Mediterranean. Their range extends from large parts of Iberia, via the South of France to Sardinia, Sicily and the southern tip of Italy. They are also present along the eastern Adriatic coastline, in large parts of Greece and on Crete (and other, smaller islands off the coast of Turkey).

Bonelli's Eagles have a preference for mountainous terrain or areas with caves or cliffs for nesting.

J. Pires reports finding Bonelli's Eagles occasionally in the area from the Tejo estuary to Mora, Evora, Portugal.

A. Sarok spotted a Bonelli's Eagle in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.