Circaetus
| Circaetus | |
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| File:Circaetus gallicus 02.JPG | |
| Short-toed snake eagle | |
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Circaetus
Vieillot, 1816
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| Species | |
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C. gallicus |
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Circaetus, the snake eagles, is a genus of medium-sized eagles in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.
These are mainly resident African species, but the migratory short-toed snake eagle breeds from the Mediterranean basin into Russia, the Middle East and India, and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and east to Indonesia.
Snake eagles are found in open habitats like cultivated plains arid savanna, but require trees in which to build a stick nest. The single egg is incubated mainly or entirely by the female.
Circaetus eagles have a rounded head and broad wings. They prey on reptiles, mainly snakes, but also take lizards and occasionally small mammals.
Species in taxonomic order
- Short-toed snake eagle, Circaetus gallicus
- Black-chested snake eagle, Circaetus pectoralis - sometimes included in C. gallicus
- Beaudouin's snake eagle, Circaetus beaudouini - sometimes included in C. gallicus
- Brown snake eagle, Circaetus cinereus
- Southern banded snake eagle or fasciated snake eagle, Circaetus fasciolatus
- Western banded snake eagle, Circaetus cinerascens
Fossil record
Circaetus rhodopensis late Miocene of Bulgaria)[1]
Circaetus haemusensis (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria)[2]
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<references />, or <references group="..." />- ↑ Boev, Z. 2012. Circaetus rhodopensis sp. n. (Aves, Accipitriformes) from the Late Miocene of Hadzhidimovo (SW Bulgaria). - Acta zoologica bulgarica, 64 (1): 5-12.
- ↑ Boev, Z. 2015. An Early Pleistocene Snake-eagle (Circaetus haemusensis sp. n. - Aves, Accipitriformes) from Varshets (NW Bulgaria). – Acta zoologica bulgarica. 67 (1), 2015: 127-138.
