Rare hawk-eagle was caught on the camera of Sergey Gorshkov in the "Land of Leopard"

The famous wildlife photographer Sergey Gorshkov for the first time captured a hawk-eagle in the "Land of Leopard". The bird is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the World. A cautious bird very rarely gets into the lenses of Russian photographers and this time it was caught on the camera from a special shelter - a granary.

The hawk-eagle is a species of hawk family, listed in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a species close to a vulnerable position. The hawk-eagle is common in East and South Asia. In Russia, this species began to be noted only from the 70s of the twentieth century and only in the Primorsky Territory - in the southwest of the region and in the Sikhote-Alin region.

The number of hawk-eagles is at an extremely low level in Russia. This is a rare phenomenon to meet this kind of bird in wildlife of Russia. In this regard, the success of Sergei Gorshkov is very significant. The photographer captured a bird while sitting in a shelter specially created in the "Land of Leopard" to observe wild animals. The eagle did not notice the camera, and the professional had the opportunity to photograph it several times.

“I haven’t seen hawk-eagles before, so I didn’t immediately understand what kind of bird it was”, says Sergey Gorshkov. “He flew to the granary several times, there the ravens tried to frighten him off, but the eagle still sank to the ground. It was noticeable that this is a very careful bird. Later I found out how rare it is, and meeting with it was a gift for me. I hope that I will be able to see this eagle again".

The main prey of the hawk-eagle is squirrels, Manchurian hares, Ussurian mole and birds. At the same time,the birds eat remains of prey of the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard in winter. So, this time the eagle was captured on the sika deer's remains.