Long-Crested Eagle Profile
African eagles are one of the most exciting focuses of birders on safari, and there are so many to choose from.
The Martial eagle is one of the largest in the world, and the fish eagles are some of the most distinctive, but one of the most common across much of Sub-Saharan Africa is a relatively small eagle; one that sits quietly on posts on the side of the road, scanning the ground with vivid yellow eyes and dagger-like stare.
It’s immediately recognisable by the feathery tuft on its head, giving it the name: the long-crested eagle.
Long-Crested Eagle Facts Overview
| Habitat: | Forest edges, near water |
| Location: | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Lifespan: | Up to 12 years |
| Size: | 58 cm (23 inches) tall, 176 cm (69 in) wingspan |
| Weight: | Up to 1.5kg (3.3lb) |
| Colour: | Dark brown to black, with white patches |
| Diet: | Almost exclusively rodents |
| Predators: | None as adults, other birds, snakes, rodents as eggs and chicks |
| Top Speed: | Unknown |
| No. of Species: | 1 |
| Conservation Status: | Least Concern |
While it might not be a very large eagle, the long-crested eagle has looks that could kill. It’s mostly black, with white markings that are easy to spot when it’s in flight, but when sitting, its glorious crest gives it away.
This is a beautiful bird and one that comes with more agility and speed than your larger models.
Perhaps most importantly, they’re doing really well for themselves, taking advantage of all the rats that come out of human development.
Interesting Long-Crested Eagle Facts
1. Another mystery bird
There’s an intense and very exciting argument going on in the relentless world of taxonomy, regarding just what to do with all these eagles.
This bird is most genetically similar to Aquila clanga, suggesting that one of the two will have to accept the others’ generic name eventually. There are several other eagles currently attributed to the Aquila genus that some insist should be merged with the Lophaetus, where the long-crested eagle currently sits.
It seems an obvious solution to a very niche problem, yet there are apparently pockets of resistance among the community, and a consensus has yet to be established.
It goes without saying that we should all be on the edge of our seats waiting for the next fascinating instalment (and the inevitable Netflix drama adaptation), but for now, the long-crested eagle has the genus Lophaetus – Lophos- meaing “crest”, and –aetos meaning “eagle” – all to itself
The species name, occipitalis refers to the back of the head, and therefore the crest again, reminding us that while taxonomists find it almost impossible to correctly name something once, they are quite happy to name it the same thing twice. 1
2. Females are much larger
Long-crested eagles are small-to-medium-sized eagles, maxing out at around 1.5 kg, and 1.7m across. They’re big enough not to have many predators, but they do have a lot of competitors, especially when it comes to finding a place to nest.
Females are substantially larger than males, at around 27% greater mass, but even for them, finding nesting space can become a real-estate battle where there are multiple, similar-sized birds in the area, all looking for a safe place to lay eggs.
This is actually a common area of competition that’s not talked about much, but while this small eagle has a lot to deal with when it comes to nesting, it has some advantages over other eagles, too. 2
3. They’re not like other eagles
One of the characteristics of an eagle this small is improved agility. Long-crested eagles appear to have more in common with some smaller raptors like buzzards, than some of the larger birds of prey it’s named after.
Increased agility is useful in wooded areas, and its smaller size no doubt helps with hunting, but even its style of prey capture more resembles buzzards than some of its common-namesakes.
The long-crested eagle is a sit-and-wait ambush predator, choosing to stay put on a branch and keep an eye out for the characteristic rummagings of their favourite food, rather than circle in the sky like their larger cousins.
This means you’ll often see them sitting on electricity poles or the outward-protrusions of trees, their crest erect and their piercing yellow eyes communicating clearly that you should leave them alone. 3
4. They’re rodent specialists
And from here, they are able to pick and choose from a wealth of rodent diversity. Mole rats, vlei rats, water rats, marsh rats, mice, and shrews are all common snacks for this eagle, though it will take small birds, lizards and amphibians if they are unlucky enough to show themselves. For people with domestic chickens, these eagles are a common threat, though only to the chicks.
In their natural African range, they do very well in areas of human activity. Snakes are generally feared on the continent and killed indiscriminately, which leads to an abundance of rats in cultivated areas, and thus a happy population of long-crested eagles.
5. They’re good dancers
That increased agility we mentioned comes in handy when courting, too. These eagles perform impressive dives and coordinated flights to woo their potential mates, during which that makes quite a sweet little sound for such a scary-looking predator.
When nesting, they’ll team up to build the nest or squat in an abandoned one from size mates like the lizard buzzard or sparrowhawks. The female will lay an asynchronous pair of eggs, sometimes weeks apart, and the chicks come out with a very particular set of skills. 4
6. Babies are toilet-trained
Many baby birds produce what are called ‘faecal sacs’ which are built-in diapers to contain the waste in a nice little package that the parents can then clean out of the nest. Very This is a handy little quirk of evolution that prevents diseases and parasites from setting up shop in the same place as the developing chick.
But crested eagles don’t have these, which would mean the nest ends up filling with faecal matter, but the chicks hatch with an in-built understanding of where it’s appropriate to poo, and shuffle their little bird butts to the edge of the nest to drop their turds onto car windscreens and new jackets instead. 5
7. Some populations are struggling
This is an eagle that, as we’ve said, does well around humans. And the species as a whole is of least concern to the IUCN, but that’s not to say they’re without problems.
From the ‘70s to the 2000s, eagle populations across eleven recorded species dropped by 86% to 98% in West Africa.
Among these species, the long-crested eagle was missing even from protected areas, showing evidence of local extinctions.
More recent records aren’t as easy to find, and this suggests a relatively urgent need for more research on the topic, something which organisations like the Peregrine Fund, among others, are working on. 6
Long-Crested Eagle Fact-File Summary
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Lophaetus |
| Species: | Occipitalis |
Fact Sources & References
- “Long-Crested Eagle – Lophaetus occipitalis”, The Eagle Directory.
- “Long-crested Eagle”, The Peregrine Fund.
- “Lophaetus occipitalis”, Monaco Nature Encyclopedia.
- “LONG-CRESTED EAGLE”, Animalia.
- “What Are Fecal Sacs? Bird Diapers, Basically”, Audubon.
- “Long-crested Eagle”, The Peregrine Fund.