African Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle
Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Domain	Eukaryota
Kingdom	Animalia
Subkingdom	Bilateria
Branch	Deuterostomia
Phylum Information
Phylum	Chordata
Sub-phylum	Vertebrata
Infraphylum	Gnathostomata
Class Information
Superclass	Tetrapoda
Class	Aves
Sub-class	Neornithes
Infra-class	Neoaves
Order Information
Order	Accipitriformes
Sub-order	Accipitres
Family Information
Superfamily	Accipitroidea
Family	Accipitridae
Sub-family	Haliaeetinae
Genus Information
Genus	Haliaeetus
Species Information
Species	H. vocifer
Population statistics
Population	Unknown (2016 est.)[1]
Conservation status	Least concern[2]

The African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) is a species of bird of prey of the family Accipitridae, and found throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Description[edit]

African fish eagles are large, with a body length of 25 to 29.5 inches, a wingspan of 6.6 feet to 7.9 feet, and weigh 4.4 to 7.1 pounds. Females are about one third larger than males. Their appearance is unmistakable, with the head and neck, the upper parts of the chest and back, and the tail snowy-white in color, contrasted by a chestnut-brown over the rest of the body. Primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The facial skin from eyes to beak is bare, yellow in color, and tipped in black.

Two calls are distinctive: a "quock" can be heard near the nest during breeding, while a shrill "heee-ah heeah-heeah" is more commonly heard.^[3] It is this unmistakable call that has given the bird its Latin name vocifer, which led to the common, and very apt description of "the voice of Africa".^[4]

Range and habitat[edit]

It is found throughout nearly all of Africa south of the Sahara Desert, with the exception of northeastern Kenya to the Horn of Africa. It is found in any habitat containing water, from sea level to 12,100 feet elevation; areas include oceanic coastlines, lakes, rivers, floodplains, estuaries, marshes, and swamps. It is sedentary, never migrating, but it will leave an area due to scarcity of water or prey items.

References[edit]