Grey-headed Fish Eagle

The grey-headed fish eagle is a smallish to medium-sized but bulky fish eagle, 61–75cm long with a wingspan of 155–170cm; females weigh 2.3–2.7kg against about 1.6kg for males. It has a small bill and a small, pale grey head on a long neck, grey-brown to dark brown upperparts, a brown breast, white belly and legs, and a white tail with a broad black band near the tip. The legs are bare with long talons. Juveniles are paler with darker streaks. It is easily confused with the smaller lesser fish eagle and with Pallas's fish eagle (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a fish-eating eagle found from India across South-east Asia to Malaysia, western Indonesia and the Philippines. Across its range it is generally uncommon, and rare or local in places. In India it is resident with a moderate range; SoIB 2023 has too little data for a trend and rates it a Moderate conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).