Saturday 5 January 2008

A Mountain Hawk Eagle in a dump

Mountain Hawk Eagle - 16 Oct, 2006
How often do you get to see a Mountain Hawk Eagle in full view for over 15 minutes in mist-free perfect light conditions? I would say not very often. That is exactly how lucky two dozen or so FOGSL members including myself were during our annual highland birding trip between 6–8 October, 2006. It happened on the 6th October at 5.30 p.m., on our very first walk and the location was Bomuru-ella forest reserve—close to the official garbage dump of the Municipal Council of Nuwara Eliya. Needless to say it was the highlight of the trip for me and most other participants. It was arguably the best view that I have had of this enigmatic forest dweller. Most of my previous encounters have been of birds passing over head majestically, and disappearing into a veil of mist. It was feeding on a rat and seemingly was more occupied with its meal than in vigilance—the reason why got so lucky.

7 comments:

enTRpy said...

Nice! That's an amazing shot!

oldcrow61 said...

What a fantastic bird. Fabulous picture.

Stuart Price said...

I've only ever seen one of these (I think it's the same species here in Japan) and that was only for a few seconds before it disappeared into the mist.

I did get some nice shots of Stellers Sea Eagles last week though.............

Amila Salgado said...

entrpy: Thanks! Good to hear from you!

OC: Thanks! I am glad it came off well.

Stu: That sounds very much like MHE! Nice to know you have photographed the SSE. I would love to see it one day. Will explore your blog soon.

Everybody: Just back from Sinharaja. Hence the delay...Will blog about my trip highlights soon.

Anonymous said...

Just looking through your blog and realised it was your photo used to illustrate my article on Colonel Legge in BirdingASIA recently. It was a good choice given some people say this bird should be reclassified as a Sri Lankan endemic and called Legge's Hawk Eagle.

Cheers, Murray

Anonymous said...
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Amila Salgado said...

Hi Murray, Great to hear from you. Yes, it was my photo. It was requested by Tim Loseby of OBC and I am glad it was used for your article, which I enjoyed a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if the race kelaarti receives new taxanomic evaluation given the differences from the Northern races. If that happens how appropriate would the vernacular; Legge's Hawk Eagle be!

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