Crested serpent eagle
Spilornis cheela (Latham, 1790)
The crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela), also called the Crested serpent-eagle, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae and the order Accipitriformes. It is a small bird by adult body mass, with a representative weight of 597.7 g, reported values from 420 to 800 g, and a wingspan of 1.53 m.
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Quick facts about the crested serpent eagle
This carnivore lives in forest habitat, forages by perching and is sedentary, with a geographic range of 6,837,000 km². Its clutch is 1 egg with an incubation period of 35 days, and it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 420 g – 800 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.53 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 35 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the crested serpent eagle?
Photos of the crested serpent eagle
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the crested serpent eagle live?
Not recorded
What is the crested serpent eagle?
The crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) 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 (S. holospila), Andaman serpent eagle (S. elgini) and South Nicobar serpent eagle (S. klossi) 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, 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Crested serpent eagle” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crested_serpent_eagle&oldid=1384615742), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the crested serpent eagle endangered?
The crested serpent eagle is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the crested serpent eagle classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAccipitriformes
- familyAccipitridae
- genusSpilornis
- SpeciesSpilornis cheela (Latham, 1790)
Synonyms Falco cheela
Other names and names in other languages (52)
- Crested serpent-eagleEnglish
- Crested serpent-eagleEnglish
- عقاب الأفعى المتوجArabic
- Serpentari ComúCatalan
- àguila serpera crestadaCatalan
- orlík chocholatýCzech
- eryr nadroedd copogWelsh
- Toppet SlangeørnDanish
- HaubenschlangenadlerGerman
- SchlangenweiheGerman
- kresta serpentagloEsperanto
- Culebrera chiílaSpanish
- Águila culebrera chiílaSpanish
- Culebrera chiitaSpanish
- aasia maduhaugasEstonian
- harjakotkaFinnish
- Serpentaire bachaFrench
- עיט נחשים מצויץHebrew
- kukmasti zmijarCroatian
- kontyos kígyászsasHungarian
- Elang-ular bidoIndonesian
- Serpentario crestatoItalian
- Aquila serpentaria crestataItalian
- カンムリワシJapanese
- 관수리Korean
- kuoduotasis gyvatėdisLithuanian
- cekulainais čūskērglisLatvian
- ചുട്ടിപ്പരുന്ത്Malayalam
- सर्पगरूडMarathi
- Burung Lang KuikMalay
- Burung Helang BerjambulMalay
- Indische SlangenarendDutch
- orientsnokørnNorwegian
- wężojad czubatyPolish
- águia-cobreira-de-cristaPortuguese
- águia-cobreira-de-penachoPortuguese
- Águia-serpentária-de-cristaPortuguese
- Хохлатый змееядRussian
- Большой хохлатый змееядRussian
- hadiar čepcovýSlovak
- Ćubasti zmijarSerbian
- Heulang RuyukSundanese
- orienthjälmörnSwedish
- காட்டுப்பாம்புக்கழுகுTamil
- เหยี่ยวรุ้งThai
- Tepeli Yılan KartalıTurkish
- Tepeli Doğu Asya Yılan KartalıTurkish
- змієїд чубатийUkrainian
- 蛇雕Chinese
- 大冠鷲Chinese
- 大冠鷲〔蛇鵰〕Chinese
- 蛇鵰Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the crested serpent eagle
Other species in the same genus Spilornis.
Dark serpent-eagle
Spilornis elgini
Kinabalu serpent-eagle
Spilornis kinabaluensis
Kloss's serpent-eagle
Spilornis klossi
Sulawesi serpent eagle
Spilornis rufipectus
Steere's serpent-eagle
Spilornis holospilus
CompareCrested serpent eagle vs Dark serpent-eagleCrested serpent eagle vs Kinabalu serpent-eagleCrested serpent eagle vs Kloss's serpent-eagleCrested serpent eagle vs Sulawesi serpent eagle
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the crested serpent eagle?
The crested serpent eagle is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, genus Spilornis.
How heavy is the crested serpent eagle?
Its representative adult body mass is 597.7 g, with reported values from 420 to 800 g.
What is the wingspan of the crested serpent eagle?
Its wingspan is 1.53 m.
What does the crested serpent eagle eat?
It is a carnivore.
What habitat does the crested serpent eagle live in?
It lives in forest habitat, where it forages by perching, and it is sedentary.
Is the crested serpent eagle endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does the crested serpent eagle lay?
It lays a clutch of 1 egg, which is incubated for 35 days.
Who named the crested serpent eagle?
Spilornis cheela was named by Latham in 1790, written as (Latham, 1790).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-serpent-eagle
“Crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-serpent-eagle.
@misc{crested_serpent_eagle_2026,
title = {Crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-serpent-eagle},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}