Circaetus cinerascens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The western banded snake eagle (Circaetus cinerascens) is a grey-brown African raptor with a short tail and a large head. Juveniles have paler and browner upper parts than adults, with white-edged feathers. The eagle's head, neck and breast are dark-streaked. The underparts are white with pale brown streaks, mainly on belly and thighs. Subadults may be all dark grey-brown without any streak on underparts. The eyes, ears, and legs are yellow. They have crested chests.
It has a total length of 50-58 cm (19 to 22 in) and a wingspan of 120-134 cm (3 ft 11 in to 4 ft 4 in) Western banded snake eagles live in woodlands, mainly along rivers, but they avoid dense forests. Western banded snake eagles mainly hunt snakes, but also other small vertebrates, ambushing from a perch. They drop from the perch to trunk, foliage or ground. They are solitary birds, and very secretive. Due to their sedentary lifestyle, they are often detected only by their calls.
The western banded snake eagle sometimes rises to soar, while it calls above the canon. They utter a loud, high-pitched 'kok-kok-kok-kok-kok'. They are found in Africa in the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 2 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 3 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 5 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 8 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 11 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 12 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 14 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 16 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 17 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 18 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 19 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Snake-Eagle sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 112th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Snake-Eagle in Meru National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January–March, June and September, the lowest months. That is one of Meru National Park's wettest months, with about 200 mm of rain against almost none in July. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Banded 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.
5th of 19
Of the 19 parks where we can rate Banded Snake-Eagle sightings, Meru National Park ranks 5th at about 20%. The best odds are in Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 30%), Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 30%) and South Luangwa National Park (Zambia, about 20%).
Same genus: Circaetus
The closest relatives of the Banded Snake-Eagle that you can see in Meru National Park (genus Circaetus, Snake-Eagles) are Brown Snake Eagle (about 20%) and Black-breasted Snake Eagle (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Banded Snake-Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (27 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.
