Nisaetus kelaarti
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Legge's hawk-eagle (Nisaetus kelaarti) is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. It breeds in the Indian subcontinent, from southern India to Sri Lanka. Its specific name kelaarti honors the physician-zoologist E.F. Kelaart. The English common name honours William Vincent Legge, who described the species in 1878.
Legge's hawk-eagle is a medium-sized eagle and fairly large-sized raptor. The typical adult has brown upperparts and pale underparts, with barring on the undersides of the flight feathers and tail. The breast and belly are heavily streaked. The wings are broad with a curved trailing edge, and are held in a shallow V in flight. Sexes are similar, but young birds are often whiter-headed.
Legge's hawk-eagle was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the mountain hawk-eagle, but it is smaller and has unstreaked buff underwing coverts. A 2008 study based on the geographic isolation and differences in call suggested that this be treated as a full species, Nisaetus kelaarti. When all standard measurements are considered, Legge's hawk-eagles average about 5-10% smaller than mountain hawk eagles, although Legge's tail length is slightly greater on average. Furthermore, one male from Sri Lanka weighed 1.93 kg (4.3 lb), slightly less than most male mountain hawk-eagles. In average total length, males Legge's hawk-eagles average about 70 cm (28 in) and females average about 76 cm (30 in).
It is a bird of mountain woodland that builds a stick nest in a tree and lays usually a single egg in a clutch. Legge's hawk-eagles eat small mammals, birds and reptiles. Despite its relatively modest size, Legge's hawk-eagle is a powerful predator with large talons, like many booted eagles, and is sometimes known to occasionally pursue prey as heavy or heavier than itself. This may include Indian peafowl, estimated to weigh 2.8 to 4 kg (6.2 to 8.8 lb). Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Legge's Hawk-Eagle sighting in Periyar National Park on a given day, based on 93 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 143rd most-seen of the 227 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Legge's Hawk-Eagle in Periyar National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–August and October–January, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Legge's Hawk-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.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Legge's Hawk-Eagle sightings, Periyar National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Legge's Hawk-Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Periyar National Park (93 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.
