Crested Serpent Eagle
: Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Accipitriformes : Accipitridae : Spilornis : cheela
Binomial name
Spilornis cheela (Latham, 1790)

The Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela) is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae.

Crested Serpent Eagle breeds in southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to south China, south east Asia and Indonesia. It is a forest bird which builds a stick nest in a tree near water and lays a single egg.

Crested Serpent Eagle is a medium large raptor at about 55-75cm in length. Adults have dark brown upperparts and head, and have a hooded appearance at rest. The underparts and underwing coverts are pale brown. In soaring flight, the broad wings are held in a shallow V. The tail and underside of the flight feathers are black with broad white bars

Sexes are similar, but young birds have a whitish head, underparts and underwing, the latter showing darker barring.

Crested Serpent Eagle, as its English and scientific names suggest, is a specialist reptile eater which hunts over woodland for snakes and lizards.

Reference

• Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6