Short-toed Snake Eagle

The short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus), also known as the short-toed eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers. The genus name Circaetus is from the Ancient Greek kirkos, a type of hawk, and aetos, "eagle". The specific gallicus means "of Gallia". Taxonomy The short-toed snake 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 falcons, eagles and their relatives in the genus Falco and coined the binomial name Falco gallicus. Gmelin based his description on the "Jean le Blanc" that had been described by the English ornithologist John Latham and the French ornithologists Mathurin Jacques Brisson and the Comte de Buffon. The short-toed snake eagle is now placed in the genus Circaetus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kirkos, a type of hawk, and aetos, "eagle". The specific epithet gallicus is Latin for "Gaul" ie France. Two subspecies are recognised: C. g. gallicus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – southwest Europe to central Asia, northwest China and India C. g. sacerdotis Ng, NSR, Christidis, Olsen, Norman & Rheindt, 2017 – east Java, Bali, and Lombok to Timor (Lesser Sunda Islands) Description These are relatively large snake eagles. Adults are long with a wingspan and weigh , an average weight for the species is about . They can be recognised in the field by their predominantly white underside, the upper parts being greyish brown. The chin, throat and upper breast are a pale, earthy brown. The tail has 3 or 4 bars. Additional indications are an owl-like rounded head, brightly yellow eyes and lightly barred under wing.