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Seen on S100, Satara, August this year:

These 3 Tawny Eagles, the parents and chick with their nest all had remarkably different coloured plumage.
We initially wondered if they could have been the same species but then the one adult bird started feeding the chick, the one low down on the right.
Would this be a correct ID?

Yes, it seems right Elsa. You've got a pale morph on the left and normal or maybe streaky one on the top branch. Thus giving a different coloured chick I suppose.

Ok , what about this 1 .
I havent got a frontal shot .

Looks like a midget tawny eagle to me wtm

Yours looks like tawny buckster...

Watch it big guy, I will get a onto a chair and give you a flat on your forehead!

This large Eagle was sitting on a termite nest eating them as they emerged, and after some serious debating in the car we still could not all agree on exactly what it was.
Help please.

I'm going to make a totally wild guess here, that this is a sub-adult steppe eagle. My Newman's says that it "feeds on the ground at termite emergences" and also that it is very dark brown, but that the sub-sults "may still have light patches on wing".

arks, " the book says" that the gape of the Steppe eagle stretched beyond the middle of the eye, but this one doesn't seem to, or do you disagree?

The gape is what had us confused and throwing names around!!

Elsa,

Your raptor is indeed a Steppe Eagle. No doubt about it the colouring and it's features are very distinct, I can understand why the gape is causing so much confusion. Okay there are 2 sub-species of Steppe Eagle the first (A.n nipalensis), has a gape which almost extends past the eye, while the second (A.n orientalis) has a gape which is exact with the eye, but in some birds the gape can be shorter. I don't think it could be a Tawny Eagle the colouring is just to way off. So I'm sticking with Steppe Eagle.

IMHO the jiss of the bird tells me to go with Black Kite

but BBJ's are definitely not my strong point so let's see what Deefstes or some of the other experienced guys have to say.

the only thing that threw me off a black kite was Elsa said it was a big bird, and black kite's are not that big

ofcourse contradicting you Johann is most likely plain dumb

Thanks Jay, very flattering but I've been completely wrong on BBJ's before. This surely won't be the first time

Black Kite is equal in size to Wahlberg's 51-60cm (medium)
Steppe Eagle equal to Fish Eagle and others 65-80cm (large)

According to pics I've looked at, Steppe shows a big, strong bill. This just doesn't give me that same feeling. Wing length also makes me lean towards the kite. Steppe's wings almost come to the end of the tail. This bird shows a shorter wing.

One thing that does bother me is the fleshy and prominent gape. Could it be the dark form of the Tawny? (66-73cm) Can't find photo's of that one at the moment though.

I don't know. Let's wait for some of the other guys to answer as well.

First set of pics with bird on termite heap = Black kite.
Second set of pics = Imm bateleur.