Hieraaetus ayresii
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
Ayres's hawk-eagle (Hieraaetus ayresii), or Ayres' eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is native to African woodlands. Its name honours South African ornithologist Thomas Ayres. The adult male has blackish upper parts that are mottled with white and usually has a white forehead and supercilium. The upper-wing coverts are similar. The tail is ashy grey with a broad black tip and three to four narrower dark bars. Primary feathers and secondary feathers are black. The underparts are white, with heavy dark brown spots and blotches on the breast and belly, becoming sparser on the thighs and vent. The legs are well-feathered and pure white. The under-wing coverts are brown and marked with white, and the underside of flight feathers is dark and heavily barred lacking any noticeable grey patch. The eyes are yellow to orange, the cere and feet yellow, and the bill is bluish horn coloured becoming paler towards the base, with a black tip. This species has a small but at times pronounced crest. The males are smaller than the females, darker and usually more densely spotted on the underparts, and have a smaller amount of white on the forehead and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 4 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 9 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 11 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 12 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 13 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 16 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 17 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 18 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Ayres's Hawk-Eagle sighting in Volcanoes National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 140th most-seen of the 156 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Ayres's Hawk-Eagle in Volcanoes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months. That is one of Volcanoes National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 250 mm in April.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ayres's Hawk-Eagle sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Ayres's Hawk-Eagle sightings, Volcanoes National Park ranks 16th at under 5%. The best odds are in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 10%), Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 10%) and Bale Mountains National Park (Ethiopia, under 5%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Ayres's Hawk-Eagle that you can see in Volcanoes National Park (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Black Kite (about 40%), Augur Buzzard (about 30%) and Mountain Buzzard (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ayres's Hawk-Eagle is recorded against all the birds logged in Volcanoes National Park (6 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.
