Pallas's Fish Eagle

Pallas's Fish Eagle

Haliaeetus leucoryphus

Silhouette: Ron Holmes/U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (source photo), T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) · PhyloPic

LCNTVUENEndangeredCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Keoladeo National Park

In 3 days <5%

9 Verified sightings at Keoladeo National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,878 In all 5 parks
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Pallas's Fish Eagle

Pallas's fish eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus), also known as Pallas's sea eagle or band-tailed fish eagle, is a large, brownish sea eagle. It breeds in the east Palearctic in Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is partially migratory, with Central Asian birds wintering among the southern Asian birds in northern India, and also further west to the Persian Gulf.

The Pallas's fish eagle has a light sandy-brown hood and a whitish face. The wings are darker brown and the back rufous. The long, slender wings (particularly slender for a sea eagle) are rather dark brown underneath. The tail is black with a wide, distinctive white stripe. Juveniles are overall darker, cooler brown with no band on the tail but with several pale areas on the wing, including the underwing coverts and inner primaries. This results in underwings that have a white band in young fish eagles. It takes until the 4th year or so to obtain adult plumage. Among related species, it mainly overlaps in range with the quite dissimilar much shorter winged and slightly smaller... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:19

India · 2024

© Lars Lachmann · XC883587 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:40

India · 1996

© David Farrow · XC37575 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Call0:19

India · 1986

© Jelle Scharringa · XC603104 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kaziranga National Park 🇮🇳 India
~60%
2 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
3 Manas National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
4 Royal Manas National Park 🇧🇹 Bhutan
<5%
5 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Pallas's Fish Eagle in Keoladeo National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pallas's Fish Eagle sighting in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 263rd most-seen of the 278 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Pallas's Fish Eagle in Keoladeo National Park?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pallas's Fish Eagle in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Pallas's Fish Eagle?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pallas's Fish 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.

Is Keoladeo National Park the best place to see a Pallas's Fish Eagle?

5th of 5

Of the 5 parks where we can rate Pallas's Fish Eagle sightings, Keoladeo National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kaziranga National Park (India, about 60%), Jim Corbett National Park (India, about 20%) and Manas National Park (India, under 5%).

Which relatives of the Pallas's Fish Eagle live in Keoladeo National Park?

Same family: Accipitridae

The closest relatives of the Pallas's Fish Eagle that you can see in Keoladeo National Park (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Greater Spotted Eagle (about 50%), Western Marsh-Harrier (about 40%) and Black Kite (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Pallas's Fish Eagle sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Pallas's Fish Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Keoladeo National Park (9 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.

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