diagnostics
78-83 cm, 3.3-4.7 kg. A large, powerful eagle. Sexes are similar, but females are considerably larger and on average darker above and more profusely spotted below. Adults can be identified by their large size, together with completely dark brown upperparts, throat, neck, and head, contrasting with the white, lightly spotted breast, belly and remainder of underparts. At all ages, the head has a small crest. In flight appears massive, with the undersides of the remiges looking dark and closely barred. The underwing coverts are dark brown to blackish. The tail has heavy barring, most obvious from below. In adults the eyes are bright yellow, the bill is black with a grey cere, and the feet are bluish grey to pale yellow with dark talons. Juveniles differ from adults in having the upperparts dark grey, with pale-edged feathers, while the underparts are whitish with pale grey markings on the side of the chest. The head is pale grey with a white crown and a slightly shorter crest than adult's. The undersides of the remiges are slightly paler grey, while the underwing coverts are almost entirely white. Tail is lightly barred. Eyes are dark brown, bill is black with a grey-greenish cere, and feet are greenish (Simmons 2005).
trophic
Martial Eagles occur in a variety of habitats but seem to prefer arid and mesic savannah but are also commonly found at forest edges and in open shrubland (Simmons 2005). Birds will occupy most habitats provided there are adequate tall trees or pylons for nesting and perching (Machange et al. 2005). It rarely occurs in mountainous areas. It is known to nest on human-made structures, such as pylons and wind-pumps, and in alien trees (Tarboton and Allan 1984). The ability to nest on such structures may have increased densities in naturally treeless parts of the Karoo, Namaqualand and Kalahari (Machange et al. 2005). In extensive areas of good natural habitat, such as the Kruger National Park (Kemp and Kemp 1974), immatures are uncommon while adults and juveniles are seen regularly (Kemp and Begg 2001), suggesting that breeding pairs dominate the best habitats and immatures have to disperse elsewhere to mature. Declining sightings in the Kruger National Park suggests that adult recruitment may be falling because dispersal areas for immatures have become population sinks with reduced survival and therefore falling recruitment. The generation length of 18.5 years was calculated based on a published estimate of mean age at first breeding and extrapolated maximum longevity in the wild (BirdLife International 2014).
