The greater spotted eagle, also called the spotted eagle, is a large migratory bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
Greater spotted eagle
Adult wintering in Oman
A juvenile greater spotted eagle wintering in India exhibits the highly distinct fulvescens morph plumage.
Museum specimen of juvenile
The Aquilinae are a subfamily of eagles of the family Accipitridae. The general common name used for members of this subfamily is "booted eagle", although this is also the common name of a member of the subfamily. At one point, this subfamily was considered inclusive with the Buteoninae based probably on some shared morphological characteristics. However, research on the DNA of the booted eagles has shown that they are a monophyletic group that probably have had millions of years of separation from other extant forms of accipitrid.
Aquilinae
The formidable bearing and talons are evident on even modestly sized booted eagles such as African hawk eagles.
Golden eagles, like all members of this subfamily, are capable predators of large prey such as foxes but do not disdain carrion either.
A Martial eagle on its nest in Tanzania.