Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Nisaetus
Species: N. floris

Flores Hawk Eagles are Critically Endangered raptors that live on the Lesser Sunda Islands of Flores, Sumbawa, and Lombok. They face threats from deforestation, persecution, and trade. They were formerly classified as a subspecies of Nisaetus cirrhatus (Crested Hawk Eagle), but due to morphological differences, it is now considered a separate species.

Physical Description:

Flores Hawk Eagles have a white head with narrow markings on the crown, and a dark brown back and wings. The tail has six dark bars, with white uppertail coverts. The chest, belly, thighs, and legs are white.

Juveniles are similar to adults.

Size:

Length: 75-79 cm

Habitat and Distribution:

Flores Hawk Eagles occupy in lowland rainforest and submontane forest, up to 1,600 meters above sea level.

They live on the Lesser Sunda Islands of Flores, Sumbawa, and Lombok. There fewer than 200 individuals over a range of 10,000 km².

Diet and Hunting:

They probably eat small mammals, birds, and lizards.

Reproduction:

Though there are few details known about their breeding season, it is thought to happen during the dry season; displays have been observed in June-July. The nest and eggs have not been described.

Conservation:

Nisaetus floris is listed as Critically Endangered by BirdLife International, due to a very small and declining population. Deforestation and persecution are major threats, along with cagebird and taxidermy trades.

Taxonomy:

Nisaetus floris used to be considered a subspecies of Nisaetus cirrhatus (Crested Hawk Eagle), but due to morphological differences N. floris is now recognized as a full species by several authorities. Asian hawk eagles within genus Nisaetus were separated from genus Spizaetus, which consists of New World hawk eagles, after molecular sequencing of one nuclear intron and two mitochondrial genes showed the two genera are unrelated.

Other Names:

Flores Hawk Eagle, Sunda Hawk Eagle, Sundahøgeørn (Danish), Flores havikarend (Dutch), Aigle de Florès (French), Asiatischer Haubenadler (German), Elang Flores (Indonesian), Floresskogørn (Norwegian), Wojownik sundajski (Polish), Aquila azor de Flores (Spanish), Florestofsörn (Swedish).

Other Multimedia:

None available.

References:

http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=FF57DFD213F8C789
BirdLife International (2011) Species factsheet: Nisaetus floris. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 28/11/2011.
Global Raptor Information Network. 2011. Species account: Flores Hawk-eagle Nisaetus floris. Downloaded from http://www.globalraptors.org on 28 Nov. 2011
BirdLife International 2009. Nisaetus floris. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 28 November 2011.
http://www.planetofbirds.com/accipitriformes-accipitridae-flores-hawk-eagle-nisaetus-floris
Ferguson-Lees, James, and Christie, David A. Raptors of the World. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.