LOCAL NAME

• පෙරළි කොණ්ඩකුස්සා, Perali Kondakussa,
• Chinese (SIM) 凤头鹰雕
• Czech orel proměnlivý
• Dutch Kuifloze Kuifarend/Indische Kuifarend
• English Changeable Hawk-Eagle
• English (United States) Changeable Hawk-Eagle
• French Aigle huppé
• French (French Guiana) Aigle huppé
• German Indienhaubenadler
• Icelandic Kambörn
• Indonesian Elang brontok
• Japanese インドクマタカ
• Malayalam കിന്നരിപ്പരുന്ത്
• Marathi मोरघार
• Norwegian vekselskogørn
• Polish wojownik indyjski
• Russian Изменчивый хохлатый орёл
• Serbian Raznobojni jastrebasti orao/ćubasti jastrebasti orao
• Slovak orlovec viactvarý
• Spanish Águila Variable
• Spanish (Spain) Águila variable
• Swedish orientörn
• Thai เหยี่ยวต่างสี
• Turkish Değişken Atmaca Kartalı
• Ukrainian Орел-чубань індійський

DESCRIPTION

The changeable hawk-eagle or crested hawk-eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus) is a large bird of prey species of the family Accipitridae. More informal or antiquated English common names include the marsh hawk-eagle or Indian crested hawk-eagle. It is a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, with signature feathers, absent in tropical raptors from outside this subfamily, covering the tarsus. It was formerly placed in the genus Spizaetus, but studies pointed to the group being paraphyletic resulting in the Old World members being placed in Nisaetus (Hodgson, 1836) and separated from the New World species. It is a typical “hawk-eagle” in that it is an agile forest-dwelling predator and like many such eagles readily varies its prey selection between birds, mammals or reptiles as well as other vertebrates. Among the members of its genus, the changeable hawk-eagle stands out as the most widely distributed, adaptable and abundant species. Birds show a wide range of variation in plumage from pale to dark, varying with moult and age giving rise to the name “changeable”.