Circaetus pectoralis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The black-chested snake eagle or black-breasted snake eagle (Circaetus pectoralis) is a large African bird of prey of the family Accipitridae. It resembles other snake eagles and was formerly considered conspecific with the short-toed and Beaudouin's snake eagles, to which it is closely related.
Although originally proposed as separate species, many authors previously considered both the black-chested and Beaudouin's snake eagles to be subspecies of the short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus). However, this convention was not followed by all taxonomists, with some citing differences in adult plumage and breeding ranges as evidence in favour of awarding each full species status. Brown (1974) followed this latter view, but cited several instances of alleged hybridization between the three forms which would justify their treatment as a single species under the Biological Species Concept. However, Clark (1999) suggested that these alleged hybridization events may have instead resulted from misidentification of juvenile or subadult black-chested snake eagles as adults of other species.
A molecular phylogenetic analysis based on two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear intron... Wikipedia →
Call0:31
Ethiopia · 2009
© Toon Spanhove · XC57552 · CC BY-NC-ND 2.5
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dullstroom Bird Of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-breasted Snake Eagle sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 271 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 133rd most-seen of the 351 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-breasted Snake Eagle in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against about 10% in September to May, the lowest months. Those are among iSimangaliso Wetland Park's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 130 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-breasted Snake 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.
10th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Black-breasted Snake Eagle sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, about 30%), Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya, about 20%) and Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, about 20%).
Same genus: Circaetus
The closest relatives of the Black-breasted Snake Eagle that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (genus Circaetus, Snake-Eagles) are Brown Snake Eagle (about 20%) and Fasciated Snake Eagle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-breasted Snake Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (271 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
