Hieraaetus pennatus in geopark
Hieraaetus pennatus in geopark

26 August

Hieraaetus pennatus in geopark

On August 21, 2020 on the territory of Yangan-Tau Geopark in the vicinity of Ust-Atavka village of Salavatsky district a dwarf eagle was met - a rare stray species of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Dwarf eagle Hieraaetus pennatus - a bird of prey of the family Hawk Accipitridae of the Falconiformes squad. Small eagle, body and size closer to the buzzards.

The species was registered in the Republic of Bashkortostan: May 20, 1994, in the lower reaches of the Belaya River, July 29, 1996, in the vicinity of the Maly Nakas mountain and in the same year in the environs of Trinity forest of Tuimazinsky district, on June 30, 1998 over Mount Kuperlya in Museuzovsky district (Karyakin I.V.), 1998), April 20 and August 20, 2017 in the "Bashkir Urals" bioreserve above the "Kashal" cordon on the border of Meleuzovsky and Burzyansky districts (I.M. Nurmukhametov, 2017), June 2, 2018 on Mount Tratau in Ishimbai district (A.R. Ishbirdin, M.M. Ishmuratova, 2019) and, apparently, in 2019 in the vicinity of the village of Trinity forest of Tuimazinsky district. Beloretsky District Kaga (Zagorskaya V.V., 2019; date and year of registration are not mentioned in the publication).

Bred in Eurasia from Spain to Mongolia and the extreme south of Asia, in Australia, Africa. On the territory of Russia as a rare bird nests in the Don and right-bank Volga basins, in the east - in the Sayan Mountains, Altai, Kuznetsky Alatau. Also nests in Central Kazakhstan (listed in the Red Book of Kazakhstan). The closest to the Republic of Bashkortostan places of probable nesting of the species, according to I.V. Karyakin (1998), are in the Buzuluk pine forest and Krasnosakmarskiy forest (Samara region).

The Russian name reflects a characteristic feature of this bird - the size and proportions of its body resemble smaller buzzards, but it still has a characteristic eagle's appearance. The male and female do not differ externally. Wingspan is 100-132 cm, weight - about 500-1300 g. Due to the presence of the sixth finger (buzzards have five of them), the shoulder looks wider and more massive. The flight also looks more like the flight of other eagles - in a straight line, with rapid wingspans and rare planning. When floating, the front line of the wing is slightly curved, as in the kite - the shoulder part of the wing is directed forward, and brush back, which gives the impression that the wing is not fully opened.

In color, there are two types called "morphs" - dark and light, and light is more common. Birds of light morphs from below are white, can be with more or less pronounced longitudinal pestrians, flywheel dark (white wing veneer sharply contrasts with black flywheel), on the inner flywheel, especially at their ends, a slight lightening, in the blade area symmetrical light spots. Dwarf eagles are dark morphs brown at the top and bottom, often with a typical golden or reddish tint on the head. These birds are similar in color to other medium-sized birds of prey, especially with buzzards and black kite. From above, the birds of dark morphs also have light on the covering wings and blades - a good diagnostic sign of both morphs in all clothes. Distinctive signs of the dwarf eagle are a large head, a powerful beak and almost completely shaggy and strong legs.

Almost everywhere is a migratory bird, which winters in the tropics of Africa and South Asia.

Hunting small birds, lizards, snakes, rodents.

Nests in the forest on trees once a year, in the clutch usually one or two eggs.

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