---
title: "Brown Snake-Eagle"
description: "Circaetus cinereus — Birds. The brown snake eagle (Circaetus cinereus) is a fairly large species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/brown-snake-eagle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Brown Snake-Eagle

> Circaetus cinereus — Birds. The brown snake eagle (Circaetus cinereus) is a fairly large species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.

- Scientific name: *Circaetus cinereus*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `savanna` (Savanna)
- iNaturalist observations: 3264
- Wikidata: [Q549126](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q549126)
- iNaturalist taxon: [5241](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/5241)

## Names

- en: Brown Snake-Eagle
- de: Einfarb-Schlangenadler
- es: Culebrera sombría
- fr: Circaète brun
- nl: Bruine slangenarend
- pt: Águia-cobreira-castanha
- pl: Gadożer brunatny

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (1754), TZ (275), KE (220), BW (174), UG (108), ZM (100), ZW (98), NA (89), MW (78), MZ (48), GM (43), SN (28)

## Summary

The brown snake eagle (Circaetus cinereus) is a fairly large species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is found in West, East and southern Africa. This species is an almost obligate predator of a variety of snakes. A very solitary bird, the brown snake eagle has a prolonged breeding cycle and raises a single eaglet. Although probably naturally scarce, it is classified as a least concern species as it continues to occur over a very broad range.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_snake_eagle

## Photo

![Brown Snake-Eagle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/brown-snake-eagle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Лариса Артемьева · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/307706753

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/brown-snake-eagle?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).