Circaetus fasciolatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The southern banded snake eagle (Circaetus fasciolatus), also known as the East African snake eagle or fasciated snake eagle, is a species of snake eagle in the family Accipitridae which is found in eastern Sub-Saharan Africa.
The southern banded snake eagle is a rather small, stocky snake eagle with a large, rounded head which has a hooded beak. It has a grey-brown head contrasting slightly with the mainly blackish-brown upperparts and whitish underparts. The tail has a white tip and shows three distinct dark bands on the underside. The large eyes are pale yellow eyes, the feet and cere are yellow and the bill us black. The juvenile lacks the grey head, has mainly dark upperparts and the whitish pale underparts are marked with dark streaks on the face, throat and upper breast. The total length varies from 55 to 60 cm with females larger than males.
The southern banded snake eagle is unobtrusive and is normally found due to its noisy, high-pitched call, "ko-ko-ko-kaw", repeatedly made either from a perch or while in flight. The southern banded snake eagle occurs in a narrow band along the east African coast from southern Somalia to the... Wikipedia →
Call0:15
Kenya · 2022
© Magnus Wadstein · XC775493 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Recording0:15
South Africa · 2021
© magdastlucia · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 3 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fasciated Snake Eagle sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 238 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 147th 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 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fasciated Snake Eagle in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fasciated 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.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Fasciated Snake Eagle sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique, under 5%) and uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, under 5%).
Same genus: Circaetus
The closest relatives of the Fasciated Snake Eagle that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (genus Circaetus, Snake-Eagles) are Brown Snake Eagle (about 20%) and Black-breasted Snake Eagle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fasciated Snake Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (238 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.
