Changeable Hawk-Eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus)

The changeable hawk-eagle or crested hawk-eagle is a large bird of prey. More informal or antiquated English common names include the marsh hawk-eagle or Indian crested hawk-eagle. It is a typical “hawk-eagle” in that it is an agile forest-dwelling predator and like many such eagles readily varies its prey selection between birds, mammals or reptiles as well as other vertebrates.

The changeable hawk-eagle is a largish but slender eagle. Adult changeable hawk-eagles are typically dark brown above and boldly streaked below with a strong bill, a variably sized, often floppy crest or no crest, rather short wings, a quite long, thinly-barred tail and long feathered legs. In flight, the changeable hawk-eagles is a large raptor with a prominent head, rather short rounded and broad wings, long squarish or rounded tail, but has somewhat slenderer wings and straighter trailing edges than sympatric species of hawk-eagles. The species tends to fly with a fast agile flight.

 The extensive range of the changeable hawk-eagle includes much of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. In India, they may found almost continuously from the peninsular tip north to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odissa.

Changeable hawk-eagles are at home in a variety of wooded and semi-open habitats. Their physical form and flight style is typical of forest-dwelling raptors. These birds of preys usually prefer reptiles, small birds and mammals but some of them have also been observed to consume various parakeets and other large sized woodpeckers and birds.