Compared with other eagles, the Lesser Spotted is rather plain, generally appearing almost uniformly dark except from above when you should see small pale patches at the base of the primaries, a pale ring at the base of the tail and a fairly obvious contrast between the paler, browner wing coverts and the almost-black flight feathers. The rarer Spotted Eagle usually looks darker, virtually all-black, and is subtly different in shape. If you do see any colouring in the underwing, then on a Lesser Spotted Eagle the coverts are paler than the flight feathers but on a Spotted Eagle the reverse is often true.

Summer visitor to woodland areas, often feeding in nearby farmland or marshes.

Probably breeds in most of the forested areas of eastern Europe and Turkey but can be difficult to locate. The fields just north of Bialowieza (Poland) and the woods of the Zemplen Hills (Hungary) are particularly good spots. The easiest way to see them though is from the Camlica or Sariyer Hills (Istanbul) where up to 30,000 have been counted passing in autumn. The third week in September invariably produces at least one day when over 1000 eagles are seen. The migrating birds almost certainly roost in the Belgrade Forest just west of Sariyer so it should be possible to get exceptional views there.

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