An African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) perches atop a cactus in Uganda

by Laurence Green

African fish eagle

📷 Lolelua Wildlife Photography

Zambia

I haven’t done any anatomy stuff in a long time, so I decided to challenge myself with a creature design project combining eagle and whale anatomy.  The result is what I call a wheagle - not the greatest name, but I started calling it that way back at the beginning of this project and it kind of stuck lol.  

Since I’m still pretty rusty with anatomy, I gave this animal a fairly conservative and recognizable avian body - for the most part.  The head, talons and tail are where the whale anatomy comes into play.  The elongated skull displays telescoping (a reduced distance between the maxilla and occipital), resulting in dorsally located, blowhole-like nostrils.  There is also a melon organ (pictured in the muscle study), a mass of tissue on the dorsal snout that aids in echolocation.  The tusks were inspired by beaked whales, and are only found in the male animal.  All in all the skull components are more mammalian than avian, despite the eagle-like beak and eyes.    

The long, muscular tail was likewise inspired by cetacean muscle/locomotion, but ends in a pygostyle/tail fan that functions the same as in birds.  There are five talons instead of four, but the outer fifth talon is basically vestigial - I only added it as a nod to the five “fingers” within whale flippers.  

The wheagle is a fairly large piscivorous animal native to the South Pole.  It feeds mainly on deep sea icefish, which it hunts using echolocation.  Color scheme is inspired by African fish eagles.  I’ll have some more studies of this creature’s anatomy to share later on; I definitely enjoyed getting back into animal anatomy and creature design!   

Nairobi National Park, January 16, 2023

Hey! Fun facts with your neighborhood eldritch horror!

You see this bird?

Photo taken by Derek Keats

It is often mistakenly labeled as a bald eagle. This is not correct! This is an African fish eagle. They are actually a pretty big symbol of Africa, as they are spread all over the continent. As far as I know, we don’t really fully understand why the bald eagle and the African fish eagle, and a few others, look so strikingly similar. it’s either just cuz theyre related, or it’s something to do with the way they hunt. They are both sea eagles, also known as the subfamily Haliaeetinae (which includes the heaviest modern flying bird, steller’s sea eagle!). Though actually, despite how similar the bald eagle and the African fish eagle might appear, they are not in the same genus.

Some sea eagles form species pairs, or species so similar that it’s difficult to tell them apart both physically and genetically. Often they can produce fertile offspring. Both the African fish eagle and the bald eagle have species pairs, actually. The bald eagle forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle, while the African fish eagle forms a species pair with the Madagascar fish eagle.

What’s kinda funny to me is that some artists tend to exaggerate the plumage on the bald eagle so far that they end up looking like the African fish eagle. I’ve even done that. it’s very easy to do especially when you don’t know these guys even exist, which many people don’t.

So go out! go out and dont mix up the bald eagle and African fish eagle! i have empowered you with this knowledge!!!

African Fish Eagle

Here's a painting of an African Fish Eagle I finished painting on stream on Tuesday!

And I have another commission lined up for me so I might paint it next week on stream 😄

http://twitch.tv/livaada

"African Fish Eagle" photographed by Charl Stols

African Fish Eagle

[56/10,976] African Fish Eagle - Haliaeetus vocifer

Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae Genus: Haliaeetus (fish eagles or sea eagles)

Photo credit: George Armistead via Macaulay Library

Posting birds until I hit post limit: African fish eagle

African Fish Eagle

PhotGraphic landscape with African fisheagle

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A relatively quick Sephiroth concept

I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but the all the Harpies pre- Cloud and Zack are very human in the body, having normal legs and less feathers all around, more like a 'typical' angel in appearance

Album of Abyssian Birds and Mammals. From paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. 1930.

🐟🪶🦅🪶🐟

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Miss Universe Namibia 2022 National Costume:  African Fish Eagle 

Namibia is a goldmine of endless opportunities, through her resources, freedom, and peace. Basking in all its glory, Namibia is home to the African Fish Eagle. Soring high and wide between canyons and gliding along silky river banks. Not only is the African Fish Eagle Namibia’s national bird, it is also displayed on the Namibian Coat of Arms and is proudly African, found throughout South-Saharan Africa speaking to the country’s Pan-African relations with neighboring countries. The costume itself symbolizes the African Fish Eagle flying over the dunes and canyons. The details of copper, diamante, and shades of brown represent the resources found within Namibia such as diamonds, copper, gold, and uranium to name a few.