African fish eagle
| African fish eagle | |
|---|---|
| At Chobe National Park, Botswana | |
CITES Appendix II
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Icthyophaga |
| Species: | I. vocifer
|
| Binomial name | |
| Icthyophaga vocifer (Daudin, 1800)
| |
| resident area non-breeding area | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Haliaeetus vocifer | |
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. Examples of names include: visarend in Afrikaans, nkwazi in Chewa, aigle pêcheur in French, idì in Yoruba, hungwe in Shona, inkwazi in isiZulu, and ntšhu in Northern Sotho. Though this species may superficially resemble the bald eagle in appearance they are not closely related and the two species occur on different continents, with the bald eagle being endemic to North America.