Aquila rapax
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The tawny eagle (Aquila rapax) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its heavily feathered legs mark it as a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, also known as booted eagles. Tawny eagles have an extensive but discontinuous breeding range that constitutes much of the African continent as well as the Indian subcontinent, with rare residency in the southern Middle East. Throughout its range, it favours open dry habitats such as semideserts, deserts steppes, or savanna plains. Despite its preference for arid areas, the species seldom occurs in areas where trees are entirely absent. It is a resident breeder which lays one to three eggs in a stick nest most commonly in the crown of a tree. The tawny eagle is perhaps the most highly opportunistic of all Aquilinae, and often scavenges on carrion or engages in kleptoparasitism towards other carnivorous animals but is also a bold and active predator, often of relatively large and diverse prey. It is estimated that tawny eagles can reach the age of 16 years old. Nonetheless, precipitous declines have been detected throughout the tawny eagle's range. Numerous factors, particularly loss of nesting habitat due to logging and global warming, as well as persecution (largely via poisoning) and other anthropogenic mortality (largely through contact with various manmade objects) are driving the once numerous tawny eagle perhaps to the brink of extinction.
It is also the national animal of Ghana. Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le rocher des aigles | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Mysore Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Lahore Zoo | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | |
| 4 | Dullstroom Bird Of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Leningrad Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Volerie des aigles | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Donjon des aigles | 🇫🇷 France |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Eagle sighting in Kigali on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 186th most-seen of the 244 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Eagle in Kigali on a given day, against under 5% in July–August and October–May, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tawny Eagle sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Tawny Eagle sightings, Kigali ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia, about 10%) and Prayagraj (India, under 5%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Tawny Eagle that you can see in Kigali (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Black Kite (about 90%), Long-crested Eagle (about 40%) and Palmnut Vulture (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tawny Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Kigali (15 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
