Mountain Hawk-Eagle

Both the northern and southern limits of this widely found raptor are surprisingly poorly known to this day, with historic records suggesting that the species may take up residence hundreds of kilometers north of its accepted range and year-around reports of this species from areas formerly considered only to be visited by wintering migrant or vagrant hawk-eagles. The mountain hawk-eagle is distributed through the Himalayas, extending from northeastern Pakistan through north India in at least the states of central Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, continuing into Nepal, Bhutan to northern Assam thence southward into the north and east Burmese highlands, west and peninsular Thailand, also the northern parts of Laos and probably Vietnam. Their range continues eastward into southeastern China where they may be found in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong Province northward in the east to the lower reaches of the Yangtze in Anhui and Zhejiang. Their range also extends to Hainan, an offshore island of China. Mountain hawk-eagles are additionally found in the island nations of Taiwan and Japan, with the highest concentration known on northern islands such Hokkaido but they may be found on nearly all the islands of Japan. …

Mountain hawk-eagles are well adapted to living in forests. As is the case for all Nisaetus species, their physical form and flight style is typical of forest-dwelling raptors in general and is often found to be roughly comparable to the features of true hawks or Accipiters in particular larger species such as the occasionally sympatric Eurasian Goshawk (Accipiter Gentilis). Like most other forest raptors, mountain hawk-eagles (and Nisaetus species in general) have a long tail, short broad wings and relatively long but powerful legs, all of which impart greater maneuverability and quicker strike times in denser wooded hunting grounds than other raptorial body plans. The common name hawk-eagle is apparently in reference to their similar adaptations to true hawks. Contrary to the suggestion that, based on their physiology, especially their longer wings and tarsus but shorter talon and bill length, when physically compared to the Legge's hawk-eagle implies that the mountain hawk-eagle is morphologically adapted to hunting birds more so than mammals, dietary studies indicate that the mountain hawk-eagle is not necessarily a specialized bird predator but rather a generalist and opportunist like many predators. …

The eagle's feathers are coveted among indigenous Paiwan and Rukai peoples of Taiwan; the Rukai especially regard it as sacred being a reincarnation of the sharp-nosed viper who guided their ancestors.