Kingdom Animalia Order Accipitriformes Genus Nisaetus Higher classification Nisaetus | Phylum Chordata Family Accipitridae Scientific name Nisaetus floris Rank Species | |
Similar Sulawesi hawk‑eagle, Nisaetus, Wallace's hawk‑eagle, Siau scops owl, Long‑tailed honey buzzard | ||
The Flores hawk-eagle (Nisaetus floris, formerly Spizaetus floris), is a 75–79 centimetres (30–31 in) long raptor in the family Accipitridae. Adults have dark brown upperparts, a brown tail with six bars, a white patch in the wings that is visible in flight, white underparts, and a white head with fine brownish streaks on the crown (many books erroneously illustrate adults with largely brown heads). It has traditionally been treated as a subspecies of the changeable hawk-eagle; at least in part because of confusion over the true adult plumage of the Flores hawk-eagle, which resembles the juvenile of the changeable hawk-eagle. Unlike that species, adult and juvenile Flores hawk-eagles are quite similar.
An Indonesian endemic, the Flores hawk-eagle is distributed in forests of Flores, Lombok and Sumbawa in the Lesser Sundas. It mainly occurs in lowlands, but has been recorded at altitudes as high as 1,600 metres (5,200 ft). The diet consists mainly of birds, lizards, snakes and mammals.
Due to ongoing habitat loss within its small range, capture for the cage bird trade and persecution due to its habit of taking chickens, the Flores hawk-eagle is evaluated as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is estimated that less than 100 pairs remain.
