EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

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The Eagle With a Crown

Credit & Copyright:  Dr. Bruce G. Marcot
  

Explanation:  This massive and powerful bird of prey rightfully sports a crown, even if metaphorical.  This is an African Crowned Eagle, found throughout central and southeast Africa.   Crowned Eagles are listed as "near threatened" status and its populations are thought to be rapidly declining from being shot and trapped, from their nests being destroyed, and from general loss of their woodland and savanna habitat.   This individual is relatively safe from such threats, having found a home in the vast Masai Mara savannas of southern Kenya.