Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

About the Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

The black-chested buzzard-eagle (Geranoaetus melanoleucus) is a bird of prey of the hawk and eagle family (Accipitridae). It lives in open regions of South America. This species is also known as the black buzzard-eagle, the gray buzzard-eagle, or analogously with "eagle" or "eagle-buzzard" replacing "buzzard-eagle", or as the Chilean blue eagle. It is sometimes placed in the genus Buteo.

Its scientific name is Latinized Ancient Greek and means "black-and-white crane-eagle" or (if called Buteo melanoleucos) "black-and-white buzzard": Geranoaetus comes from Ancient Greek géranos (γέρανoς), "crane" + aetós (ἆετός), "eagle". The "crane" reference is due to its grey upper wings and its loud cries. The alternative genus name Buteo is simply the Latin term used for these hawks in Ancient Rome, translating as "buzzard" (in the European sense). melanoleucus is from Ancient Greek mélan- (μέλαν-), "black-" + leukós (λευκός), "white". This refers to the contrasting coloration when seen from below.

When the black-chested buzzard-eagle was first described by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1819, it was placed in the genus Spizaetus, as Spizaetus melanoleucus. Nowadays, however... Wikipedia →