A close-up portrait of a Bateleur Eagle, Terathopius ecaudatus, an African diurnal raptor.
Adult Bateleurs are mainly black and white. The female is larger and has more white on her underwings than the male. They have very short tails and distinctly shaped wings. Their feet and large ceres are red. The French word ‘bateleur’ which the French ornithogist François Levaillant, can be translated as acrobat, tumbler or tightrope-walker, in reference to its acrobatic courtship flight.
Bateleurs are omniverous, sometimes looking for food over huge areas for eight or more hours each day. They feed on carrion and roadkill, but are also excellent hunters. They can stoop on prey from the air, catch insects, lizards and rodents on the ground, can catch and kill smaller birds in flight and are kleptoparasitic on other raptors.
The photo (right) shows a Bateleur carrying a small rodent in its beak.
Juvenile and immature Bateleurs (left) are brown all over, with a green/grey/blue cere and facial skin and their legs are a pale greenish-grey, They do not reach their full adult plumage until their eighth year, by which their bare parts have passed through yellow and pink before turning red.
All images are copyright © Liz Leyden, all rights reserved.
The top image is for sale as wall art or as various home or personal accessories at Pixels.com.
The original photo from which the Bateleur portrait is derived is available to license as a Stock Photo from iStock, from where a cut-out of the bird, isolated on white, is also available.
