Aquila rapax
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The tawny eagle (Aquila rapax) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its heavily feathered legs mark it as a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, also known as booted eagles. Tawny eagles have an extensive but discontinuous breeding range that constitutes much of the African continent as well as the Indian subcontinent, with rare residency in the southern Middle East. Throughout its range, it favours open dry habitats such as semideserts, deserts steppes, or savanna plains. Despite its preference for arid areas, the species seldom occurs in areas where trees are entirely absent. It is a resident breeder which lays one to three eggs in a stick nest most commonly in the crown of a tree. The tawny eagle is perhaps the most highly opportunistic of all Aquilinae, and often scavenges on carrion or engages in kleptoparasitism towards other carnivorous animals but is also a bold and active predator, often of relatively large and diverse prey. It is estimated that tawny eagles can reach the age of 16 years old. Nonetheless, precipitous declines have been detected throughout the tawny eagle's range. Numerous factors, particularly loss of nesting habitat due to logging and global warming, as well as persecution (largely via poisoning) and other anthropogenic mortality (largely through contact with various manmade objects) are driving the once numerous tawny eagle perhaps to the brink of extinction.
It is also the national animal of Ghana. Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le rocher des aigles | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Mysore Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Lahore Zoo | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | |
| 4 | Dullstroom Bird Of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Leningrad Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Volerie des aigles | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Donjon des aigles | 🇫🇷 France |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Eagle sighting in Serengeti National Park on a given day, based on 2,292 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 469 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and April
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Eagle in Serengeti National Park on a given day, against about 40% in August and October, the lowest months. Those are among Serengeti National Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tawny 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.
Among the best
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Tawny Eagle sightings, Serengeti National Park ranks 3rd at about 60%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 60%) and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tawny Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Serengeti National Park (2,292 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.
