Lesser Spotted Eagle

The Lesser Spotted Eagle is a small dark-plumaged eagle whose specific distinction is relatively recent. Indeed, up to the 19th century, it was mistaken for its current congenerer, the White- bellied Sea-Eagle. If compared to the latter, it is a bit smaller and better proportioned. Its wings are less broad, making its tail appear longer, which is also nicely rounded, or even slightly cuneiform.
The adult plumage is milk chocolate brown, which can seem darker in bad light. In flight, the upperparts are less uniform than in the White-bellied. The dark mantle contrasts with the beige-brown coverts, almost visibly forming a breastplate. The remiges are dark brown with a very visible light flash at the base of the primaries at the level of the hand. The rectrices are also dark brown, highlighting a pale arc, also visible, on the upper-tail. From underneath, the coverts are a warmer and paler brown than the dark brown of the remiges, opposite to that seen in the White-bellied. As in the latter, the undertail is pale.
At rest, and in comparison to the White-bellied, the head is often paler with a more visible yellow eye; the tarsi more tightly plumaged in brown, but the nostrils similarly round.
The juvenile plumage is darker brown, with cream spots at the tips of the greater coverts, both upper and lower, and to a lesser extent of the medium and tertiary coverts, similar to those of the White-bellied but with a much lesser extension, thus less visible. Seen in flight, the spots of the greater coverts form light lines on top and bottom of the wing. Light streaks stripe the lower parts and trousers. The iris is brown. With age, spots and light streaks tend to fade away completely in the adult, while the iris lightens.