This individual is an almost adult female, probably in her fourth year.
Whilst the Martial Eagle is Africa's largest eagle this bird is Africa's most powerful eagle.
Gazing into the eyes of a Crowned Eagle stirs a deep-rooted primal fear. These eagles hunt primates! In fact there is now convincing evidence to suggest that these birds hunted early hominids (eg the "Taung child").
Crowned Eagles hunted our early ancestors!
It doesn't end there however as Peter Steyn wrote in Birds of Prey of Southern Africa (1982): "One grisly item found on a nest in Zimbabwe by the famous wildlife artist D. M. Henry was part of the skull of a young human. That preying on young humans may very occasionally occur is borne out by a carefully authenticated incident in Zambia where an immature Crowned Eagle attacked a 20 kg seven- year old schoolboy as he went to school. It savagely clawed him on head, arms, and chest, but he grabbed it by the neck and was saved by a peasant woman with a hoe, who killed it, whereafter both eagle and boy were taken to a nearby mission hospital. The boy was nowhere near a nest, so the attack can only have been an attempt at predation."
Image taken in poor light through foliage in Kenya's Shimba Hills.
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Africa (entire continent rather than south of Sahara)
AN
Antarctica
AO
Atlantic Ocean
AU
Australasia (Wallacea (Indonesian islands east of Wallace's line), New Guinea and its islands, Australia, New Zealand and its subantarctic islands, the Solomons, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu)
PAL
Eurasia (Europe, Asia from the Middle East through central Asia north of the Himalayas, Siberia and northern China to Japan)
IO
Indian Ocean
LA
Latin America (Middle and South America)
MA
Middle America (Mexico through Panama)
NA
North America (includes the Caribbean)
NO
Northern oceans
OR
Oriental Region (South Asia from Pakistan to Taiwan, plus Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Greater Sundas)