MyKrugerHoliday
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source ↗
Black-chested Snake Eagle
Swartborsslangarend · Circaetus pectoralis
A striking snake specialist with piercing yellow eyes and a dark hood that ends in a crisp line above a white belly. It hunts by hovering or from a high perch, then drops onto snakes and other reptiles, swallowing smaller ones whole right where it lands.
Log your Black-chested Snake Eagle sighting — free →How to identify it
Dark brown head and chest contrast sharply with a clean white belly; the very similar Brown Snake Eagle is brown all over.
Where to see it in Kruger
Open savanna and grassland park-wide, often perched on a dead tree or hovering over open ground.
Did you know
It can hover in mid-air like a giant kestrel while scanning the grass for snakes below.
Often confused with
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