Hieraaetus pennatus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) is a medium-sized mostly migratory bird of prey with a wide distribution in the Palearctic and southern Asia, wintering in the tropics of Africa and Asia, with a small, disjunct breeding population in south-western Africa. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.
The booted eagle was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the eagle, falcons and relatives in the genus Falco and coined the binomial name Falco pennatus. Gmelin based his description on "Le Faucon Patu" or "Falco pedibus pennatis" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. Brisson had examined a specimen in the collection of Madame de Bandeville who was also known as Marie Anne Catherine Bigot de Graveron (1709-1787). The booted eagle is now placed in the genus Hieraaetus that was introduced in 1844 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek hierax meaning "hawk" with aetos meaning "eagle". The specific epithet pennatus is Latin and... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algiers | 🇩🇿 Algeria | |
| 2 | Kanpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Marrakesh | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 4 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Lucknow | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 7 | Ulaanbaatar | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 8 | Kathmandu | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 9 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 2 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Espace Rambouillet | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | African Lion Safari | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | حديقة الحيوانات والتسلية برابطية القالة | 🇩🇿 Algeria | |
| 6 | Zoo La Barben | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Almaty Zoo | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | |
| 8 | Marcelle Natureza | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Zoo de Córdoba | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | VigoNature | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 11 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Zoo Koki (Parque zoológico y botánico) | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 13 | Centro de Recuperación de Fauna Silvestre El Valle | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 15 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 16 | Donjon des aigles | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 17 | Le centre de soins des rapaces Espace Rambouillet | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 18 | Zoológico La Era de las aves | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Booted Eagle sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 334 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 26th most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Booted Eagle in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November and December, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Booted 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.
Among the best
Of the 55 parks where we can rate Booted Eagle sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 30%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Booted Eagle that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Western Marsh-Harrier (about 30%), Griffon Vulture (about 10%) and Golden Eagle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Booted Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (334 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.
