Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Batueler Eagle (juvenile)

Terathopius ecaudatus

Description:

Large prey bird 40-50cm tall, Brown plumage on back and wings and chest, lighter tan plumage on head, face seems to be almost bare, longish beak with curve on the end. Short tail. distinctive line across the wings.

Habitat:

Seen in open woodland in the Ngorongoro

Notes:

I didn't get time to see him very well, sorry about the photos. What a lot of trouble this young one was to identify ! Thanks all for the input. :)

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

13 Comments

JoshuaGSmith
JoshuaGSmith 8 years ago

Plus, Lammergeier are not found found in open woodland. They prefer the mountains.

JoshuaGSmith
JoshuaGSmith 8 years ago

I agree with the new ID! Lammergeier is close, but not as close as the Bateleur.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Nice spotting.

AshleyT
AshleyT 8 years ago

They are beautiful! Hopefully we can both see them again and get better photos, because my photos weren't very good either haha

MudWiggle
MudWiggle 8 years ago

yes, now I searched and looked for that it is quite obvious.. gosh what a grand colour change from juvenile to adult.. that is really amazing. I do have an adult one but the photo is so dark it does not do him justice.. hopefully will see another one one day. They are beautiful. That is great, thanks!

AshleyT
AshleyT 8 years ago

Juvenile Bateleur is definitely an ID I can support! I think you nailed it :) Did you get to see an adult? They are so cool! I saw a pair my first trip to Africa, definitely a bird I'll never forget!

MudWiggle
MudWiggle 8 years ago

re confusing vulture... I had a better look around and now I think this is actually a Juvenile Batueler Eagle... any thoughts?

AshleyT
AshleyT 8 years ago

I probably would, if just for a few days. Just so more people will see it that are out looking for birds to ID, and hopefully tomorrow Josh will see this conversation and have some input on it to see if he can clear up the confusion!

MudWiggle
MudWiggle 8 years ago

Thanks Ashley.. yes, I am also confused... He looks quite like one because his head feathers are all fluffed up, and face is bare, and the wings are vulture like, but he doesn't have the black eye or the beard, and the legs are not as heavily feathered as the bearded, and there is quite a distinctive line across the end of the wing... and the length of the tail etc. Its very difficult sometimes with young ones they can vary so much. They are not great photos, I think only taken from a moving vehicle, I didn't get to stop. Should I change him back to un ID?

AshleyT
AshleyT 8 years ago

I'm not convinced on this one. All the photos I see of bearded vultures have tails that are just as long as their wings, or longer. This bird appears to have a really short tail. And it would be weird for it to be molting all the tail feathers at the same time. And juveniles have dark heads, this one doesn't. And it doesn't have a beard. Overall it looks like one, but not everything adds up

MudWiggle
MudWiggle 8 years ago

Okay.. thanks

Desmond.E.S.O
Desmond.E.S.O 8 years ago

it's a Bearded vulture

MudWiggle
MudWiggle 8 years ago

Hi Josh, Thanks for the ID.. do you think it is a Juvenile then? Its just I also thought of bearded because of the head feathers. But the face is so completely different from all the images for Beardeds have quite a distinctive black eye stripe and the little beard.
Is it because it is a young one? This juvenile plumage is really giving me a hard time in ID's.

MudWiggle
Spotted by
MudWiggle

Arusha, Tanzania

Spotted on Aug 4, 2013
Submitted on Oct 5, 2015

Spotted for Mission

Related Spottings

Bateleur Bateleur Bateleur eagle (juvenile) Bateleur

Nearby Spottings

Bushbuck Blue Wildebeest Serval; in Swahili-Mondo, Kisongo Chat - Northern Anteater Chat
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team