Identification

76-92cm. Very large, with long, broad wings, outer wings well ‘fingered’. Fairly short, bluntly wedge-shaped tail and long neck and heavy bill combine to give characteristic flight silhouette. Head-on, wings flat/somewhat arched (‘arm’ raised, ‘hand’ lowered). Active flight with long series of relaxed, rather shallow wingbeats, now and then relieved by short glide. Characteristic is sudden slight rise or descent of flightpath. Can soar for long periods at supreme height. The adult is brown, with paler, yellowish-brown head and neck. Some upperwing-coverts and feathers of mantle and scapulars irregularly tipped pale yellowish, creating ‘untidy’, scalloped effect. Bill yellow. Tail pure white, or white with brown mottling at base and tip.

Description

In Hungary the White-tailed Eagle breeds in small numbers in the floodplain forests of larger rivers like Danube, Tisza and Dráva, and also in the vicinity of fishponds in Southern Transdanubia. The population has slowly increased since the 1980s as areas in other parts of the country have been reoccupied. Larger numbers overwinter on the Hortobágy, along the Danube and in certain areas of the Southern Great Plain.