Tawny eagle in flight, DNP

The tawny eagle is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It was once considered to be closely related to the migratory steppe eagle, Aquila nipalensis, and the two forms have previously been treated as conspecific.The tawny eagle’s diet is largely fresh carrion of all kinds, but it kills small mammals up to the size of a rabbit, reptiles, and birds up to the size of guineafowl. Throughout its range, it favours open dry habitats such as desert, semidesert, steppes, or savannah plains. It also steals food from other raptors. It has tawny upperparts and blackish flight feathers and tail. The lower back is very pale. This species is smaller and paler than the steppe eagle, and it does not share that species’ pale throat. This is classified as least concern by IUCN.