White-tailed eagle
Haliaeetus albicilla
Mikhail Ezdakov · Rossony District, Vitebsk Region
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 66–94 cm, wingspan 1.78–2.45 m
- Diet
- Fish, waterbirds, carrion
- Status in Georgia
- Year-round resident, passage migrant and winter visitor
- Recorded regions
- Kvemo Kartli; Mtskheta-Mtianeti; Kakheti; Shida Kartli
- Habitat
- Large lakes, reservoirs, rivers, wetlands
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Protection
- Globally LC (2021); in Georgia LC (2024)
The white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) is a very large bird of prey: it is 66–94 cm long, with a wingspan of 1.78–2.45 m. The female weighs 4–6.9 kg and the slightly smaller male 3.1–5.4 kg. The adult is greyish brown, with a pale buff head, a yellow bill and a white, wedge-shaped tail. It is harmless to people. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a year-round resident, passage migrant and winter visitor. Observations come from almost every month of the year. It occurs in Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kakheti and Shida Kartli, mainly at large lakes and reservoirs. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC).
Identification
White-tailed eagle: how to identify it
A huge eagle with long, broad, 'fingered' wings, a massive bill and a short, wedge-shaped tail. The adult is greyish brown, with a pale head, a yellow bill and a white tail. The juvenile is much darker brown and has a dark tail.
It is 66–94 cm long, with a wingspan of 1.78–2.45 m. The female weighs 4–6.9 kg and the male 3.1–5.4 kg. It may have the largest wingspan of any living eagle.
The adult is almost uniformly greyish brown, with slightly paler upperwing coverts. The head, neck and upper breast are pale buff, sometimes almost whitish. The white, wedge-shaped tail stands out against the brown body. The bill, cere, feet and eyes are yellow. The juvenile is much darker brown, with uneven whitish feather edges, a blackish-brown head and a greyish-cream tail with dark marks. It gains the fully white tail and pale head only in its eighth year.
An adult white-tailed eagle is hard to mistake for any other bird. At a distance it can resemble Gyps fulvus, as the two are similar in colour and size. Gyps fulvus has a smaller head, curved trailing wing edges and wings held higher.
Colour
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
Often confused with
It spends most of the year near large open waters: sea coasts, lakes, wetlands and rivers. For nesting it needs old, large trees or sea cliffs, with plenty of fish and waterbirds nearby. It lives mainly in lowlands, though near water it also occurs at 1,500–2,300 m. It migrates in the north and east of its range and stays in one place year-round elsewhere. In the Turkey and Georgia region it breeds sparsely and in small pockets, with probably fewer than 30 pairs. In Georgia most records come from Kvemo Kartli: Lake Kumisi, Ponichala and the Tbilisi Sea. In Mtskheta-Mtianeti it is seen mainly at Lake Bazaleti, in Kakheti in Dedoplistskaro Municipality and in Shida Kartli at Lake Nadarbazevi. In Adjara, Abkhazia, Imereti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Tbilisi there are only a few records.
The white-tailed eagle map combines public iNaturalist observations from Georgia. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Four regions have enough records: Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kakheti and Shida Kartli.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Region with records
It feeds mainly on fish and birds, chiefly waterbirds, as well as mammals. It usually snatches fish from the surface after a short flight from a perch, getting only its feet wet. It often steals prey from other birds, including cormorants, gulls, ospreys and other raptors. In winter carrion is often its main food. It needs about 500–600 g of food a day.
It is usually seen alone, in twos or in threes. In Georgia observations come from almost every month of the year, with the most in March–May. It reaches sexual maturity at 5–6 years old. When alarmed it gives a deep 'gah-gah-gah' or 'jok-jok-jok', like the alarm call of a large gull. It builds its nest in a large tree or on a cliff. It usually lays 2, rarely 1–4 whitish eggs and incubates them for 38–42 days, mostly the female. The chicks attempt their first flight at about 70 days and fly well by 90 days. After leaving the nest they stay nearby for another 35–40 days, and the parents still feed them.
Globally the white-tailed eagle is rated Least Concern (LC, 2021). There are 20,000–60,000 mature birds, and numbers are rising. From the early 1800s until the Second World War it was systematically persecuted, and later pesticides and heavy metals reduced its breeding success. As a result it was considered extinct or endangered in several countries. After protection and reintroduction some populations have recovered well. Today the threats are wetland loss, disturbance, illegal killing, poisoning including by lead, collisions with power lines and wind turbines, and the felling of large trees. The species is listed in Appendix I of CITES, Appendices I and II of the Bonn Convention and the Bern Convention. The 2024 Georgian checklist also rates it Least Concern in Georgia (LC).
Chris Burney · tlin68 · Mikhail Ezdakov · Elena Bobachenko · Larisa Nekrasova · Philip Plänker · Giorgi Natsvlishvili · Diego Rubolini · lzazadze
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Yes. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a year-round resident, passage migrant and winter visitor. It is seen in almost every month of the year.
At large lakes and reservoirs: in Kvemo Kartli at Lake Kumisi, Ponichala and the Tbilisi Sea, in Mtskheta-Mtianeti at Lake Bazaleti, in Shida Kartli at Lake Nadarbazevi and in Kakheti, in Dedoplistskaro Municipality.
It is a huge eagle with broad, 'fingered' wings and a short, wedge-shaped tail. The adult has a white tail, a pale head and a yellow bill. The juvenile is dark brown all over.
It is 66–94 cm long, with a wingspan of 1.78–2.45 m. The female weighs 4–6.9 kg and the male 3.1–5.4 kg.
Mainly fish and waterbirds, as well as mammals. In winter it often eats carrion, and it steals prey from other birds.
It reaches sexual maturity at 5–6 years old, but usually gains the fully white tail and pale head only in its eighth year.
The white-tailed eagle is harmless to people. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC), and its numbers are rising. The species is listed in Appendix I of CITES.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
