The Cellar - Nov 16th, 2016: Crested Serpent Eagle

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- - Nov 16th, 2016: Crested Serpent Eagle (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=32310)

Nov 16th, 2016: Crested Serpent Eagle

Quote:

The crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) is a medium-sized bird of prey that is found in forested habitats across tropical Asia.
Within its widespread range across the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and East Asia, there are considerable variations and
some authorities prefer to treat several of its subspecies as completely separate species.[2] In the past, several species including
the Philippine serpent eagle (S. holospila), Andaman serpent eagle (S. elgini) and South Nicobar serpent eagle (S. klossi) were
treated as subspecies of the Crested serpent eagle.

http://cellar.org/2016/eagle.jpg

Like the name says, it hunts mostly snakes and lizards, but It's a badass which will eat birds, amphibians, mammals and fishes.
It may be related to cats because it spends 98% of it's day perched quietly, but you know it's got an eagle eye out for food.

That picture reminds me of the Mexican flag.

In case anyone was wondering, the snake in the photo is a young reticulated python, capable of reaching 20 feet (with rumors of up to 40 feet still unproven) in the wild, and reports exist from trustworthy sources of small humans being eaten by some of the biggest adults. It could easily suffocate the eagle...IF it could throw a loop around the bird's neck, which is why the eagles immediately tangle as much of the snake up with their talons as possible.

Now if only baldies and ospreys could be trained to hunt pythons in Florida, even tho' the Florida problem is Burmese pythons rather than retics...