Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Nisaetus
Species: N. pinskeri

Pinsker's Hawk Eagles are raptors endemic to seven islands in the southern Philippines. These eagles are sometimes classified as a subspecies of Nisaetus philippensis (Philippine Hawk Eagle).

Physical Description:

Pinsker’s Hawk Eagles are pale-colored to white along the head and crown, with black streaking along the white-buff breast. There is narrow white and rufous barring on the belly and black barring on the thighs and crissum. The wings are barred black and brown.

Juveniles have barred thighs.

Size:

No information.

Habitat and Distribution:

They live in montane and advanced second-growth forest from 0-1,900+ meters above sea level.

They are endemic to the southern Philippine islands of Basilan, Biliran, Bohol, Mindanao, Negros, Samar, and Siquijor. Adults are probably sedentary.

Diet and Hunting:

They most likely eat birds.

Reproduction:

No information.

Conservation:

The population is declining due to habitat loss, hunting, and trapping. However, there is no official conservation status, since BirdLife International does not recognize Nisaetus pinskeri as a full species (see below Taxonomy).

Taxonomy:

Nisaetus pinskeri is treated as a subspecies of Nisaetus philippensis (Philippine Hawk Eagle) by some authorities, but others have suggested it is a separate species due to differences in morphology and plumage. Based on that analysis, Pinsker’s Hawk Eagles are listed as a full species here. N. pinskeri forms a clade with N. cirrhatus (Crested Hawk Eagle), N. philippensis, and N. lanceolatus (Sulawesi Hawk Eagle).

All Nisaetus species were formerly assigned to the genus Spizaetus of Old World hawk eagles, but based on DNA sequences of one nuclear and two mitochondrial genes which showed New World hawk eagles were part of a different lineage, they were separated into the new genus Nisaetus.

Other Names:

Pinskers Kuifarend (Dutch), Aigle de Pinsker (French), Pinkseradler (German), Wojownik leśny (Polish), Orlovec Pinskerov (Slovak), Aguila-azor de Pinkser (Spanish).

Other Multimedia:

Video of a Pinsker’s Hawk Eagle.

References:

http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=573C98D55BB7216A
BirdLife International (2012) Species factsheet: Nisaetus pinskeri. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/03/2012.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/corrections/updates-corrections-august-2011
Global Raptor Information Network. 2012. Species account: Southern Philippine Hawk-eagle Nisaetus pinskeri. Downloaded from http://www.globalraptors.org on 10 Mar. 2012
http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=824100
http://www.negrosforests.org/?q=projects-nov07
http://www.planetofbirds.com/accipitriformes-accipitridae-pinskers-hawk-eagle-nisaetus-pinskeri
Ferguson-Lees, James, and Christie, David A. Raptors of the World. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.