Mountain Hawk-eagle Nisaetus nipalensis 鷹鵰
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
66-84 cm. Large, crested eagle, brown above and barred below, including underwings, with broad mesial stripe down centre of black-sided throat. Wings rather short (reaching only to tail base when perched), tail broad and fairly long with dark and light bands of even width, tarsi feathered (extending to base of toes) and feet large. Juvenile paler than adult, often with little barring below.
When soaring presses wings forward emphasising curved trailing edge and distinct barring across underside of all flight feathers.
VOCALISATIONS
Utters a shrill whistling note.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
The sole record occurred in the northeast New Territories in open country.
OCCURRENCE
1988: an immature on 7 May at Luk Keng (Lewthwaite 1989).
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
No observations.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Two subspecies are recognised, of which the nominate is resident from the Himalayas through Indochina to the Malay Peninsula and southeast China; N. n. orientalis occurs in Japan and northeast China (Clark et al. 2020, Liu and Chen 2021).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: NEAR-THREATENED. Population size 1,200 to 6,700 mature individuals, decreasing due to habitat loss.
Clark, W. S., P. F. D. Boesman, G. M. Kirwan, and J. S. Marks (2020). Mountain Hawk-Eagle (Nisaetus nipalensis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.mouhae1.01
Lewthwaite, R. (1989). Mountain Hawk Eagle at Luk Keng – a new species for Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Report 1989: 75-77.
Liu, Y. and S. H. Chen (2021). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
