36 : Grey-headed Fish Eagle

Grey-headed Fish Eagle - Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus

This is not a bird that I am familiar with at all. I saw them 3 or 4 times in the Yala in Sri Lanka but did not see them anywhere else in Sri Lanka. They are listed as "rare" in Sri Lanka.

I was looking at the birdlife international website just now which lists this eagle as "near threatened". There are somewhere between 1000 and 10,000 wild birds left and their population is thought to be in decline. The main issue is habitat loss. They are widespread but only locally situated in pockets across South and South East Asia. They hunt for fish on rivers, lagoons, lakes and so on. They also need big trees in which to nest near to the water that they depend on for a livlehood. They are regulary persecuted by fisherman in particular who see them as a threat to fish stocks. I think overfishing by man is probably the biggest threat to fish stocks ! I doubt they take more than one or two fish a day. Its not as if they are flying off with children.

Birdlife say that there are currently no programmes running to assist these eagles other than to track their numbers and try and find the causes of the population decline.

Grey-headed Fish Eagle - Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus
Yala National Park, Sri lanka
13-15 April 2011