Aquila gurneyi Near Threatened

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 36

GURNEY’S EAGLE Aquila gurneyi Near Threatened

Local name Man Munsob (Sansundi).

Range Biak, Supiori, Yapen.

Status Resident. First recorded by Melville (1980) in March 1976. Although scarce on mainland New Guinea (Beehler & Pratt 2016) , it was observed regularly by us and by most visitors to the southern two-thirds of Biak. In August 2015 KDB saw an adult on Supiori hunting at canopy height at the edge of a mangrove with a small group of houses. In our experience this is characteristic behaviour of the species on Biak, where it is often seen singly or in pairs, hunting low over coastal villages. We have never observed it soaring high on Biak. Compared to elsewhere in its range (KDB & SvB) the species is seen fairly frequently on Biak, where its status may be related to the virtual absence of White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster .