Pallas' Fishing Eagle on a tree

Pallas' Fishing Eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus) in a tree in Corbett National Park, Uttaranchal / Uttarakhand in North India.

Corbett is the first National Park in India where the Project Tiger was started, the Corbett National Park is situated in the foothills of India as is named after Jim Corbett, the great wildlifer and conservationist. Spread over 520.82 sq kms. (1318 sq. kms. Corbett National Park including Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary) the Corbett National Park is one the best known sanctuaries of India.

Pallas's Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus) also known as Pallas's Sea Eagle or Band-Tailed Fish Eagle, is a large, brownish sea-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, and also further west to the Persian Gulf.

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 (4.6-8.2 lbs), are slightly larger than males, at 2-3.3 kg (4.4-7.3 lbs).

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 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.

Source: Wikipedia

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.