Pallas's sea eagle or band-tailed fish eagle, is a large, brownish Eagle. It breeds in Central Asia, between the Caspian Sea and the Yellow sea, from Kazakhstan and Mongolia to the Himalayas, Bangladesh and northern India. It is partially migratory, with central Asian birds wintering among the southern Asian birds in northern India.
On 22nd Dec, mid morning, while we were at Gairal FRH, we saw a couple Pallas’s Fish Eagle gliding high up in the sky. Ajit, Alok and me looked at each other with childish enthusiasm as we picked up our cameras and started to click these stately birds gliding royally against the partially cloudy sky. It is also known as Pallas's sea eagle or band-tailed fish eagle, is a large, brownish Eagle. It breeds in Central Asia, between the Caspian Sea and the Yellow sea, from Kazakhstan and Mongolia to the Himalayas, Bangladesh and northern India. It is partially migratory, with central Asian birds wintering among the southern Asian birds in northern India. It has a light brown hood over a white face. The wings are dark brown and the back rufous, darker underneath. The tail is black with a wide, distinctive white stripe. Underwings have a white band. Juveniles are overall darker with no band on the tail. It measures 72–84 cm (28–33 in) in length with a wingspan of 180–215 cm (71–85 in). Females, at 2.1-3.7 kg, are slightly larger than males, at 2.0 - 3.3.
Its diet consists primarily of large freshwater fish. They also regularly predate water birds, including adult greylag geese, by assaulting them on the surface of the water and then flying off with the kill. Since that goose species is slightly heavier than the eagle, this is one of the greatest weight-lifting feats ever recorded for a flying bird. Another case of lifting a great load in this species is when, in the Yamuna river in north-central India, an eagle captured a huge carp fish and flew with the struggling fish very low over the water, before dropping it in response to gunfire. The carp was found to have weighed 6 kg (13 lb) about twice the weight of the eagle carrying it.
Its conservation status is ‘Vulnerable’ as per International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Besides direct persecution, humans contribute to the decline of this species through habitat degradation, pollution, and draining or overfishing lakes. In India, the eagle is also threatened by the spread of water hyacinth (Eichhornia spp.) which spread over lakes and make finding prey difficult. The large range is deceptive, as Pallas's fish eagle is rare and isolated throughout its territory and may not breed in large areas of it.
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