By Вых Пыхманн (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus

Status.

Category D & E

Native Range

Europe, Asia and Africa. A long-distance migrant, breeding in southern Europe and north Africa then eastwards patchily to Mongolia and spending the winter in sub-saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Conservation Status

Least Concern

British Occurrence

NBN atlas has 30 records as at end 2024. Map Here, summary below:

One 28/7/1999 at Spurn Head, E Yorks

One 31/10/1999 to 6/11/1999 Penzance, Cornwall

One 6/02/2000 to 19/02/2000 Ham Wall and Mendips, Somerset

One 22/06/2000 Orkney

One 16/11/2008 South Wales

One 03/06/2010 Stowmarket, Suffolk

One 24/05/2014 Sandwich, Kent

One 26/05/2014 Gresham, Norfolk

One 25/04/2022 Stanpit Marsh, Christchurch, Dorset

Also

One May 2024 (dark morph) St Just, Cornwall

One mid October 2024 (pale morph) Cornwall

One 31st October - 2nd November 2024 (dark morph) Berkshire/Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border

BOURC Summary

A pale-morph bird toured Ireland and reached Orkney from March 1999 to June 2000. Because of the bird's abraded plumage, the early arrival date, the protracted stay, the long sea crossings involved and also because, though rare in captivity, some are kept, the bird was placed in category D and subsequently moved to E.

Where to see Booted Eagle in captivity

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Sources

28th BOURC report (October 2001)

29th BOURC report (October 2002)

Birdwatch February 2025