flight movements and, if escalated, into interlocking of talons and cartwheeling. Breeding takes places in November to July in northern part of range and, although potentially in nearly any month, mainly December-July in Zimbabwe and February-October in Kenya. The nests are relatively small, usually about across and deep, often being on flat-topped trees such as Acacia or Euphorbia at above the ground. Sometimes the nests are infrequently on top of epiphytes, buffalo-weaver nests or on electric pylons. Old nests of other raptors are not infrequently used, from tawny eagle to gymnogene nests, and are frequently perceptibly bulkier than those built by snake eagles themselves. A single egg clutch is laid and is incubated mainly by the female for approximately 50 days (quite long for an eagle of this size). Like most birds of prey, the female largely takes on brooding and the male food deliveries. In this species, the male often arrives with a snake hanging from his mouth with only the tail extending from his throat, the female then pulls it out of his bill and throat, thereafter she tears the prey into appropriately sized bites for the single eaglet. The juvenile eagles stay around the nest for 60–100 days before exploring branches along the perimeter, until they fledge at 97-113 (mean of about 109) days. The juvenile brown snake eagle is completely independent a few weeks after fledging. Though the young eagle may continue to beg the adults, the parents soon lose interest in feeding the young eagle. Typical lifespan in this species is around 7–10 years, fairly short for an eagle. This species is somewhat scarce and is possibly declining overall per the IUCN but it is persisting fairly strongly over a large range, that includes 23.3 thousand square kilometers. It is therefore at least concern status for immediate conservation attention. References Brown Snake Eagle - Circaetus Cinereus - External links Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds: Circaetus cinereus (Brown Snake Eagle) Brown snake eagle Birds of prey of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds of the Sahel Birds of Central Africa Birds of East Africa Birds of West Africa Brown snake eagle Birds described in 1818 Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Taxonomy articles created by Polbot