Gray-headed Fish-Eagle

About the Gray-headed Fish-Eagle

The grey-headed fish eagle (Icthyophaga ichthyaetus) is a fish-eating bird of prey from Southeast Asia. It is a large stocky raptor with adults having dark brown upper body, grey head and lighter underbelly and white legs. Juveniles are paler with darker streaking. It is often confused with the lesser fish eagle (Icthyophaga humilis) and the Pallas's fish eagle. The lesser fish eagle is similar in plumage but smaller and the Pallas's fish eagle shares the same habitat and feeding behaviour but is larger with longer wings and darker underparts. Is often called tank eagle in Sri Lanka due to its fondness for irrigation tanks.

The grey-headed fish eagle was first described by Horsfield in 1841 as Falco ichthyaetus. It is included in the order Accipitriformes and the family Accipitridae, which includes most birds of prey except for the ospreys and falcons. Lerner & Mindell placed the grey-headed fish eagle in the subfamily Haliaeetinae, which includes the genera Haliaeetus (sea eagles) This paraphyletic group forms a close sister relationship with the subfamily Milvinae, based on the shared trait of basal fusion of the second and third phalanges found only in these two groups... Wikipedia →