6

Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus [Aquila pennata]) German name(s): "Zwergadler" Size: 42-51 cm; wing span 1.1-1.35 m Body mass: 510-770 g (male); 840-1025 g (female) Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.45-0.65

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Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Booted Eagles are medium-sized raptors, but small eagles. The sexes are alike, although females are both larger and heavier than males. Their plumage comes in two different morphologies, pale and dark. Dark morph Booted Eagles are brown with lighter streaking all over their undersides. The head is solid brown, with a light-brown cap. Also the legs are lighter brown than the rest of the front. The upperside again is mostly dark-brown; lighter outer edges give the wings a scalloped appearance. The front side of the underwings is also brown, separated from the trailing side, which is dark-grey to black with a lighter grey wing panel, by a black underwing bar. In the feathers of the trailing half of the underwings some barring can usually be seen. The pale morphology instead has an off-white front, including everything from chest to undertail coverts and legs, with some brown streaking down the chest. Also the front of the underwings is off-white, with brown spots, while the trailing side is black. The wing panels are dark-grey and barely visible. The upperparts are mostly dark-brown, with broad buff wing bars and faintly visible wing panels. Also the rump is buff. The upperwings are primarily dark-brown with paler wing patches on the coverts. The head is brown, with lighter supercilia. Both morphs have eyes with orange-brown irises, a grey hooked bill with yellow cere and a yellow gape. The feet are yellow, with dark-grey talons. Note that Booted Eagles have 6 "fingers" (outer primaries), instead of the usual 5.

Taxonomy, classification See Booted Eagle at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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 the Booted Eagle is available HERE . Booted Eagles are a mostly migratory species. The only sedentary populations exist in southern South Africa and on the southern fringes of the Himalayas. Everywhere else they are migratory. Their breeding range extends from the Atlas mountain range in north-western Africa, via parts of south-western, eastern and south-eastern Europe to parts of Asia Minor and into parts of central Asia. Most overwinter in two general areas: Most of the Indian sub-continent and most of sub-Saharan Africa, except the Horn of Africa, the Congo Basin and parts of the southern coastline of western Africa. During their migration the African population avoids the Sahara desert, moving either along the West coast of Africa or through the Middle East and Arabia and south-western Asia. Normally depending on thermals for lift, they avoid long sea voyages, crossing the Mediterranean near Gibraltar, across Sicily and crossing the Red Sea at the Bab-el-Mandeb strait near Aden. The Indian population moves around the western side of the Himalayas to reach its breeding grounds in central Asia. In Europe the Booted Eagle is a breeding migrant. The breeding range extends through the interior of Iberia to southern and central France, plus mostly mountainous regions in Greece, the Balkans, the Carpathian mountains and from eastern Poland into the border region of Bielorussia with Ukraine and eastwards to the Volga. There are known small overwintering populations on parts of the Spanish Mediterranean coastline, on the Balearic islands and the southern coastal fringe of Sicily. During their migration they can be found along the coastal fringe of Iberia, in Sicily and southern Italy and most of south-eastern Europe. Booted Eagles have a preference for hilly or mountainous terrain with forest, usually interspersed with open areas for hunting.

Sightings Click here for sighting information J. Pires reports finding Booted Eagles semi-regularly in the area of Mora, Evora, Portugal, and its surrounds. They are found there not only during the breeding season but occasionally also during winter. Others were found in Zamora, Spain, in April 2024 and near Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, in October 2024. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.

Photos

ADULT

Dark morphology

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a dark morph Booted Eagle; note the completely feathered legs (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2013]

Near-frontal view of a Booted Eagle looking sideways (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2013]

Lateral view of a Booted Eagle (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil Dam, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2022]

Lateral view of a Booted Eagle (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Assares, Vila Flor, Braganca, Portugal, August 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a Booted Eagle (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Assares, Vila Flor, Braganca, Portugal, August 2023]

Frontal view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

Frontal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Flor, Braganca, Portugal, May 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Booted Eagle in flight; note the white shoulder patch ("landing light") (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, April 2019]

Lateral view of a dark morph Booted Eagle in flight; again, note the white shoulder patch ("landing light") (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Couco, Coruche, Portugal, July 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of an overwintering Booted Eagle in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of an overwintering Booted Eagle in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Zamora, Spain, April 2024]

Lateral/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, October 2024]

Near-dorsal view onto the upperparts of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, April 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Couco, Coruche, Portugal, July 2020]

Pale morphology

Sex unknown

Near-lateral view of a pale morph Booted Eagle with its prey, a lizard, being harassed by two Iberian Magpies (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta do Barracao da Vilarica, Alfandega da Fe, Braganca, Portugal, April 2023]

Lateral view of a pale morph Booted Eagle (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, August 2018]

Frontal view of a Booted Eagle taking off; note the completely feathered legs (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2019]

Frontal view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

Frontal view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raya river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, August 2022]

Frontal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

Frontal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle carrying away its prey (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2014]

Near-lateral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Mora, Evora, Portugal, April 2020]

Lateral view of a Booted Eagle taking off (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, August 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, April 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Booted Eagle in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2020]

Dorsal view of a pale morph Booted Eagle being harassed by an Eurasian Magpie (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2020]

Booted Eagle being harassed by a mob of Carrion Crows (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Booted Eagles are summer breeding migrants to Iberia, south-eastern Europe and parts of eastern Europe.

Food, Diet

Near-lateral view of a pale morph Booted Eagle with its prey, a lizard (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta do Barracao da Vilarica, Alfandega da Fe, Braganca, Portugal, April 2023]

Near-lateral view of a pale morph Booted Eagle taking off to carry away its prey, a lizard (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta do Barracao da Vilarica, Alfandega da Fe, Braganca, Portugal, April 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a pale morph Booted Eagle carrying away its prey, a lizard (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta do Barracao da Vilarica, Alfandega da Fe, Braganca, Portugal, April 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a pale morph Booted Eagle with its prey, a Rock Dove (feral pigeon) (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a pale morph Booted Eagle with its prey, a Rock Dove (feral pigeon) (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2020]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

bootegl_jp_20220904.mp3

(Portugal)

Hunting calls(?); 2 birds

© JP

More Booted Eagle sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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