---
title: "Gray-headed Fish-Eagle"
description: "Icthyophaga ichthyaetus — Vogels. The grey-headed fish eagle (Icthyophaga ichthyaetus) is a fish-eating bird of prey from Southeast Asia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/gray-headed-fish-eagle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Gray-headed Fish-Eagle

> Icthyophaga ichthyaetus — Vogels. The grey-headed fish eagle (Icthyophaga ichthyaetus) is a fish-eating bird of prey from Southeast Asia.

- Scientific name: *Icthyophaga ichthyaetus*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 2287
- iNaturalist taxon: [1505727](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1505727)

## Names

- en: Gray-headed Fish-Eagle
- de: Graukopfseeadler
- es: Pigarguillo común
- fr: Pygargue à tête grise

## Countries with the most observations

SG (662), LK (551), IN (424), MY (216), NP (80), KH (51), TH (37), ID (34), BD (24), VN (22), BN (10), PH (5)

## Summary

The grey-headed fish eagle (Icthyophaga ichthyaetus) is a fish-eating bird of prey from Southeast Asia. It is a large stocky raptor with adults having dark brown upper body, grey head and lighter underbelly and white legs. Juveniles are paler with darker streaking. It is often confused with the lesser fish eagle (Icthyophaga humilis) and the Pallas's fish eagle. The lesser fish eagle is similar in plumage but smaller and the Pallas's fish eagle shares the same habitat and feeding behaviour but is larger with longer wings and darker underparts. Is often called tank eagle in Sri Lanka due to its fondness for irrigation…

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

## Photo

![Gray-headed Fish-Eagle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/gray-headed-fish-eagle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Sri Srikumar · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/383516910

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/gray-headed-fish-eagle?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).