Crested or Nicobar Serpent Eagle
Spilornis [cheela or klossi] (= Spilornis cheela) (Latham, J 1790)
The crested serpent eagle is a medium-sized bird of prey that is found in forested habitats across tropical Asia. Within its widespread range across the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and East Asia, there are considerable variations and some authorities prefer to treat several of its subspecies as completely separate species. In the past, several species including the Philippine serpent eagle, Andaman serpent eagle and South Nicobar serpent eagle were treated as subspecies of the Crested serpent eagle. All members within the species complex have a large looking head with long feathers on the back of the head giving them a maned and crested appearance. The face is bare and yellow joining up with the ceres while the powerful feet are unfeathered and heavily scaled. They fly over the forest canopy on broad wings and tail have wide white and black bars. They call often with a loud, piercing and familiar three or two-note call. They often feed on snakes, giving them their name and are placed along with the Circaetus snake-eagles in the subfamily Circaetinae. Source: Wikipedia
Classification
Order:Accipitriformes
Family:
Accipitridae
Genus:
Spilornis
Scientific:
Spilornis cheela
Original description
Citation:
(Latham, J 1790)
Reference:
Index Orn.
1 p.14
Protonym:
Falco Cheela
Type locality:
India; restricted to Lucknow by W. L. Sclater, 1919, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, 40, p. 38.
Link:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/226470#page/36/mode/1up
Avibase identifiers
Avibase ID:
B8A4A17FF8BC23F0
Avibase ID:
avibase-B8A4A17F
Short link:
https://avibase.ca/B8A4A17F
Taxonomic Serial Number:
TSN: 175506
Crested or Nicobar Serpent Eagle
French:
Serpentaire bacha ou S. des Nicobar
Authorities recognizing this taxonomic concept:
| Avibase taxonomic concepts (current): Crested or Nicobar Serpent Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 2023 (May 2023): Crested, Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Natuna, Bawean, Ryu Kyu, Small or Nicobar Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 2024 (Oct 2024): Crested, Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Natuna, Bawean, Ryu Kyu, Small or Nicobar Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 2025 (Nov 2025): Crested or Nicobar Serpent Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 01 (August 2013): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela or minimus]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 02 (May 2014): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus or minimus]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 03 (March 2015): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 04 (Aug 2016): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 05 (Jan 2017): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 06 (Feb 2018): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 07 (Feb 2020): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 08 (Feb 2021): Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi]) |
| Morony, Bock and Farrand: Crested Serpent-Eagle ( Spilornis cheela) |
Taxonomic status:
Species status: species (alt)
This taxon is a subspecies of
Spilornis [cheela, holospilus or klossi]
Your sightings
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Other synonyms
See also the taxonomic synonyms table.
Bulgarian: Качулат змияр
Bengali: তিলা নাগঈগল
Catalan: Àguila serpera crestada
Cebuano: sikub
Czech: Orlík rudoprsý
Danish: Toppet Slangeørn
German: Schlangenweihe
English: Crested or Nicobar Serpent Eagle, Crested or Small Serpent-Eagle, Crested Serpent-Eagle, Crested, Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Natuna, Bawean, Ryu Kyu, Small or Nicobar Serpent-Eagle
Esperanto: Kresta serpentaglo
Spanish: Águila Culebrera Chiíla, Culebrera Chiíla
Estonian: aasia maduhaugas
Finnish: Harjakotka
French: Serpentaire bacha, Serpentaire bacha ou S. des Nicobar, Serpentaire bacha ou S. menu
Hungarian: kontyos kígyászsas
Indonesian: Bido, Elangular Bido
Italian: Aquila serpentaria crestata
Japanese (romaji): kammuriwashi
Japanese: カンムリワシ
Japanese (Kanji): 冠鷲
Korean: 관수리
Korean (Transliteration): gwan-suri
Scientific: Falco Cheela, Spilornis [cheela or klossi], Spilornis [cheela or minimus], Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus or minimus], Spilornis [cheela, abbotti, asturinus, sipora, natunensis, baweanus, perplexus, minimus or klossi], Spilornis cheela, Spilornis cheela cheela
Lithuanian: Kuoduotasis gyvatėdis
Malayalam: ചുട്ടിപ്പരുന്ത്
Malay: Helang Kuik
Nepali: काकाकुल
Dutch: Indische Slangearend, Indische Slangenarend
Norwegian: Orientsnokørn
Polish: wezojad czubaty, wężojad czubaty
Pinyin: dà guān-jiù
Portuguese: águia-serpentária-de-crista
Russian: Хохлатый змееяд
Slovak: hadiar čepcový
Swedish: Indisk tofsormörn, Orienthjälmörn
Tamil: Paambu Parundhu
Thai: เหยี่ยวรุ้ง
Thai (Transliteration): yìaw-rúŋ
Ukrainian: Змієїд чубатий
Vietnamese: Diều hoa miến điện, Diều hoa trung quốc
Chinese: 蛇雕
Chinese (Traditional): 蛇鵰
Chinese (Taiwan, Traditional): 大冠鷲
Chinese (Taiwan): 大冠鹫
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