African fish eagle | |
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Eagle at Chobe National Park, Botswana | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Accipitriformes |
Family: | Accipitridae |
Genus: | Icthyophaga |
Species: | I. vocifer
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Binomial name | |
Icthyophaga vocifer (Daudin, 1800)
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The African fish eagle (Icthyophaga vocifer) or the African sea eagle is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur. It is the national bird of Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. As a result of its large range, it is known in many languages.[3] Examples of names include: Vis Arend in Afrikaans, nkwazi in Chewa, aigle pêcheur in French,[4] hungwe in Shona, inkwazi in isiZulu, and ntšhu in Northern Sotho. This species may resemble the bald eagle in appearance; though related, the two species occur on different continents, with the bald eagle being resident in North America.