Booted Eagle

The booted eagle is a small eagle about 40 centimetres long, with a wingspan of 110–132 centimetres; males weigh about 510–770 grams and females 840–1,025 grams. There are two distinct plumage forms: pale individuals are mainly light grey with a darker head and flight feathers, while the dark form has mid-brown plumage with dark grey flight feathers. The morphs follow a Mendelian pattern with the paler allele dominant, and the dark form is about 20 percent of the population in South Africa but much commoner in eastern populations such as Russia. (Wikipedia, general species account)

The booted eagle has breeding populations in southern Europe, North Africa and across Asia, and also in western South Africa and Namibia. Northern populations are migratory, spending November to February in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while the small southern African populations are sedentary. It is a species of wooded, often hilly countryside with some open areas, breeding in rocky, broken terrain, and migrants will use almost any habitat except dense forest. (Wikipedia, general species account)