Hawks & Eagles in South Africa
Our list for South Africa has 7 hawks & eagles recorded regularly there: 3 residents, 3 summer visitors and 1 passage migrant
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in South Africa in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
BuzzardButeo buteoSummer visitorCommon51–57 cmRegularly Aug–Apr
African Marsh HarrierCircus ranivorusResidentUncommon44–52 cmRecorded all year
Booted EagleHieraaetus pennatusResidentUncommon42–51 cmRecorded all year
Crowned EagleStephanoaetus coronatusResidentRare80–99 cmRecorded all year
European Honey-buzzardPernis apivorusSummer visitorRare52–60 cmRegularly Nov–Apr
Montagu's HarrierCircus pygargusSummer visitorRare43–47 cmRegularly Oct–Mar
Western Marsh-harrierCircus aeruginosusPassage migrantRare48–56 cmRegularly Jan
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Montagu's Harrier 43–47 cm
- Booted Eagle 42–51 cm
- African Marsh Harrier 44–52 cm
- Western Marsh-harrier 48–56 cm
- Buzzard 51–57 cm
- European Honey-buzzard 52–60 cm
- Crowned Eagle 80–99 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made