The long crested eagle in Uganda is one of the African bird species you can see during your Uganda bird watching safari. The long crested eagle is an African bird of which its prey on other birds too, likes all eagles; it is in the family of Accipitidea. It is currently place in a monotypic genus lophaetus.
It has the body length of 53- 59cm and weight between 1,300-1,500g for the females while the male weighs between 912- 1,300g. It is found in most of part in Uganda even along the way to national parks easily sport them on trees, electric poles next to the road.
The adult long-crested eagle is dark brown or black, it has long white patches at the joint of the wings, visible when perched, forming a white lines on each side of the breast. The under wing coverts are white with black spots. It has tail strongly barred of white; the wings are long and broad and are whitish.
The Hooked bill is yellow with dark tip, the eyes are golden or reddish-brown, and the feet are yellow with slender talons. The long crested eagle has a long crest on the crown, with six (6) feathers moving and most of the time are erecting when it is perched on the tree.
Sometimes immature is similar to adults, but browner, the wing coverts and feathers show white tips. Crest is less prominent, the eyes and feet are duller.
The long crested eagles is a noisy bird as well on perch as flying, especially at the beginning of the breeding season, it utter loud and sharp calls and some calls display is a loud and clear like keeeeeeeeh or keee-ee-ef.
The long crested eagle feeds mainly on small rodents, chicks, young birds and it drops from an exposed perch on its prey and catches it, for it does not hunt on the wing. It often perched on the trees on the road sides, electricity or telegraph poles and fences, it generally hunt in morning or at dusk and rest during the day under shades or shadow of a tall tree.
The nesting of long crested eagle is made with small sticks; a deep central cup is lined with green leaves. Nest is well protected from the sun, in the tree in a fork or a lateral branch. Their nest is often located on a river valley with large trees. Nest is built at height from 20 to 70 feet even more, in the large tree such as wild fig. The nest is built by both adults and it is used for several years.
In the breeding season the long crested eagles come in pair has usually a regular where they can be seen day after day. Long crested eagle is very noisy when it displays, it calls from perches around the nest site usually uses the same perch every day.
After pairing the female long crested eagle lays one to two eggs, spotted with brown and grey, in the second half of the of the dry season. During incubation period, the female is fed by the male near the nest. But she leaves the nest to hunt herself some times, male stays near the nest, roosting in the same tree or close by the tree.
In the first weeks after hatching, female remains or near the nest while male brings food. After three weeks, female hunts more than male, the young reaches plumage at about 28 days and remains around the nest until 40 to 55 days.
It performs its first flight at about 55 to 60 days of age. Then it moves rapidly away from the site. It is fed by both parents another two weeks. This species process one single brood per year with only one chick, probably some times the elders kills the other. Kindly book your safari with Mirama hills safari, book primate safari, bird watching trip, hiking, savannah wildlife, culture and among others.
