#digifu

White-bellied Sea Eagles, as their name suggests, are a species of eagle that prefer places along the coast or near water. It's an opportunistic carnivore, which means it feeds on most prey it comes across, including carrion - though fishes are its main prey. For marine prey, they use a rapid down-and-backward grab while flying low over the water surface.

Part of the White-bellies' courtship ritual may feature an acrobatic feat where two birds lock talons in the air and cartwheel downward, letting go and re-ascending once near the ground (though I've not been lucky enough to see this irl). This behaviour is not exclusive to courtship though, and may be associated with aggressive defense of territory.

Locally, these birds are our heaviest and largest raptor species, measuring up to 85cm (33.5'). You might hear them before you can spot them - their loud honking calls are often heard during their breeding season. In flight, they have a shallow 'v'-shaped pose and their black flight feathers at the outset of their wings conspicuously contrast with the rest of their white plumage from afar.

The calls recorded in this track were taken from Sungei Buloh where there have been a few recorded nesting pairs over the years. Anecdotally they seem to be mobbed by House Crows (Corvus splendens) very often while in flight (in the recording a pair was being followed around by a flock of minimally 15~20 crows).

Lastly, while this bird was originally placed with Bald Eagles, Steller's Sea Eagle etc. in the genus Haliaeetus, this name, with genus Icthyophaga, follows the International Ornithological Congress (IOC)'s world bird list, following a genetic study that placed it in a newly-revived genus apart from the original from 2018. Ultimately where the line is drawn between one genus and another is a little arbitrary, so you might still see papers from recent years not mentioning genus Icthyophaga at all.

For further reading and references:-

Gill, F., Donsker, D., Rasmussen, P. (eds). (2025). "Taxonomic Updates". IOC World Bird List v15.1.

Wee, Y.C. (2007). "Aerial display: White-bellied Sea Eagle". Bird Ecology Study Group.

Wikipedia

Bird Society of Singapore