Aquila gurneyi
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Gurney's eagle (Aquila gurneyi) is a large eagle in the family Accipitridae. It is found in New Guinea and Wallacea, and is an occasional vagrant to Australia. The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the British banker and amateur ornithologist John Henry Gurney (1819–1890).
This eagle is a fairly large species, though mid-sized as a member of the genus Aquila. It is mainly dark brown to black, with paler undersides to its flight feathers and a rounded tail. Its body length is 74–86 cm (29–34 in) with a wingspan of between 1.65 and 1.9 m (5 ft 5 in and 6 ft 3 in). Females are larger than males. One immature female weighed 3.06 kg (6.7 lb). Males are estimated to weigh about 2.21 kg (4.9 lb) in this species. Its wings are held level when gliding. It feeds on mammals (such as cuscuses), reptiles, fish, and birds.
Juveniles have brown scapular feathers, wing coverts, and back, mottled with gray and buff. The black tail is faintly barred, and the head and underparts are light brown fading into a cream-colored belly and legs. Gurney's eagle is found from the Moluccas to Irian Jaya and most of New Guinea, from sea level to 1500 meters above... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Gurney's Eagle sighting in Raja Ampat on a given day, based on 126 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 93rd most-seen of the 200 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.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Gurney's Eagle in Raja Ampat on a given day, against under 5% in March–May and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Raja Ampat's wettest months, with about 360 mm of rain against 180 mm in October.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gurney's Eagle sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Raja Ampat, in our data
Raja Ampat is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Gurney's Eagle sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Gurney's Eagle that you can see in Raja Ampat (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Brahminy Kite (about 60%), White-Bellied Sea-Eagle (about 30%) and Long-tailed Honey-buzzard (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gurney's Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Raja Ampat (126 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.
