page_title: Crested serpent eagle
section_title: Distribution, taxonomy and status
hierarchical_section_title: Crested serpent eagle / Distribution, taxonomy and status
caption_attribution_description: English: Spilornis cheela Imature(maybe) at Iriomote is. Japan. 日本語: カンムリワシ幼鳥(西表島・日本) 浦内マングローブ群落樹冠
context_page_description: The crested serpent eagle is a medium-sized bird of prey that is found in forested habitats across tropical Asia. Within its widespread range across the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and East Asia, there are considerable variations and some authorities prefer to treat several of its subspecies as completely separate species. In the past, several species including the Philippine serpent eagle, Andaman serpent eagle and South Nicobar serpent eagle were treated as subspecies of the Crested serpent eagle. All members within the species complex have a large looking head with long feathers on the back of the head giving them a maned and crested appearance. The face is bare and yellow joining up with the ceres while the powerful feet are unfeathered and heavily scaled. They fly over the forest canopy on broad wings and tail have wide white and black bars. They call often with a loud, piercing and familiar three or two-note call. They often feed on snakes, giving them their name and are placed along with the Circaetus snake-eagles in the subfamily Circaetinae.
context_section_description: Within its widespread range across tropical Asia, 21 populations have been named as subspecies. The most widespread sub-species are the nominate from along the sub-Himalayan range in India and Nepal, 
  S. c. batu from southern Sumatra and Batu,
  S. c. bido from Java and Bali,
  S. c. burmanicus in most of Indochina,
  S. c. hoya from Taiwan,
  S. c. malayensis of the Thai-Malay Peninsula and northern Sumatra,
  S. c. melanotis in Peninsular India,
  S. c. palawanensis from Palawan,
  S. c. pallidus from northern Borneo,
  S. c. richmondi from southern Borneo,
  S. c. ricketti in northern Vietnam and southern China,
  S. c. rutherfordi from Hainan, and
  S. c. spilogaster of Sri Lanka.
  The remaining sub-species are all restricted to smaller islands: 
  S. c. abbotti (Simeulue serpent eagle) from Simeulue,
  S. c. asturinus (Nias serpent eagle) from Nias,
  S. c. baweanus (Bawean serpent eagle) of the Bawean,
  S. c. davisoni in the Andamans,
  S. c. minimus (Central Nicobar serpent eagle) from the central Nicobars,
  S. c. natunensis (Natuna serpent eagle) from Natuna,
  S. c. perplexus (Ryukyu serpent eagle) from Ryukyu, and
  S. c. sipora (Mentawai serpent eagle) from Mentawai.
  The last seven (with English names in brackets) are sometimes treated as separate species. Although the crested serpent eagle remains widespread and fairly common overall, some of the taxa that are restricted to small islands are believed to have relatively small populations that likely are in the hundreds. The rarest is probably the Bawean serpent eagle with a declining population of about 26–37 pairs, which makes it critically endangered.
  The nominate subspecies has a black throat while the peninsular Indian form has a brownish throat. There are clinal latitudinal variations, with size decreasing southward. The small islands taxa are generally smaller in size than the taxa from the Asian mainland/larger islands in a phenomenon termed as insular dwarfism.
  The specific name cheela is derived from the Hindi name for kites.
  One syntype specimen of Spilornis rutherfordi Swinhoe (Ibis, 1870, p.85.), the Hainan subspecies, is held in the collections of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number T2819 (male adult). The specimen was collected in Hainan, China in February 1868 by Robert Swinhoe and came to the Liverpool national collection via Canon Henry Baker Tristram’s collection which was purchased in 1896.
caption: Immature ssp. perplexus (Iriomote Okinawa)
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