Editing Eastern imperial eagle (section)

===Confusion of species===
[[File:Zoo19feb (65)a.JPG|thumb|left|A captive adult eastern imperial eagle sharing an aviary with a smaller cousin, the [[lesser spotted eagle]].]]
The eastern imperial eagle is typically smaller, being more slender and less bulky and powerful in appearance despite its proportionately larger head and longer neck, than the [[golden eagle]] (''Aquila chrysaetos''). In some parts of the range, the female imperial eagle probably averages similar size and body mass to the smaller male golden eagle. However, apparently the species can be reliably distinguished by the size of its [[Claw|hallux claw]] (the enlarged rear talon that accipitrids used as a killing apparatus) which is consistently larger in the golden species. Two female eastern imperial eagles measured {{convert|38|and|43|mm|in|abbr=on}} in hallux claw length while a male was about {{convert|35.5|mm|in|abbr=on}}, whereas the smallest talon measured for an immature male American golden eagle was {{convert|44.9|mm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Naoroji/><ref name= Brown/><ref>Bortolotti G.R. (1984). ''Age and sex size variation in Golden Eagles''. Journal of Field Ornithology. 55: 54–66.</ref> Nonetheless, besides its wider ranging golden cousin, this species is typically the largest, with the largest extremities (i.e. tarsal, tail and bill length) and most powerful [[Aquilinae|booted eagle]] species in the majority of its range (apart from its rare African winter range) when compared to similar eagles such as others in the genera ''[[Aquila (genus)|Aquila]]'' and ''[[Clanga (genus)|Clanga]]''.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Naoroji/><ref name= Clark/> In their winter quarters in [[South Asia]], this species rivals a [[Pallas's fish eagle|fish eagle]] as the largest and most dominant eagle species.<ref name= Naoroji/> Usually, the plumage of the adult eastern imperial eagle is very distinctive. It is considerably darker than other adult ''Aquila'' eagles in central Eurasia. Furthermore, all other Eurasian eagles in their range lack the white spots on the wing mantle and greyish under-tail.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Clark/> Given reasonable views, the juvenile imperial eagle is no less distinctive, with its unique tawny-buff covered in brownish streaking, a colour combination not seen in other species.<ref name= Clark/> From a distance, the juvenile may give the impression of a dark mantle and chest band with very pale rear body and a blackish tail and [[flight feather|remiges]] against strikingly pale primary wedges.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/> Adults do however strongly resemble their considerably extralimital cousins, the [[Spanish imperial eagle]], but the eastern species has more restricted white on the shoulder and has a slightly more brownish hue in the dark underside feathers, while juvenile Spanish imperials are richly tawny in colour rather than pale buffy and lack brownish streaking on the body. The Spanish species is similar in size and proportions to the eastern imperial but is marginally heavier on average and has an even more protruding head and neck.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= HBW/><ref>González, L. M. (2016). ''Águila imperial ibérica – Aquila adalberti''. En: Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles. Salvador, A., Morales, M. B. (Eds.). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid.</ref>

The subadult eastern imperial eagle may be confused with older immature [[greater spotted eagle]]s (''Clanga clanga'') but the latter is less contrastingly patterned, without a paler shawl and has greater covert band below (despite the rare hint of one on some imperials) and densely bared flight feathers. Adult greater spotted eagles have similar underwing contrast as juvenile eastern imperial eagles but, beyond plumage characteristics, are distinct for their much smaller head, slightly smaller overall size and more compact frame with a relatively broader and shorter wings. More similar to the juvenile eastern imperial eagle is the ''fulvescens'' morph of the greater spotted eagle which is fairly rare (more so in the west) but is similarly or even as pale buffy. However this spotted eagle morph lacks the brownish streaks below of the juvenile imperial and further has contrasting much darker feathering on the wing coverts (heavily spotted in juvenile greater spotteds) and mantle as well as sometimes the facial feathers, and can further be distinguished by the same aforementioned differences in form.<ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Naoroji/> [[Indian spotted eagle]]s (''Clanga hastata'') tend to show paler lesser under-wing coverts like juvenile eastern imperial eagles but are considerably smaller and differ in all other proportions and plumage features.<ref name= Naoroji/> Although at times described as “very similar”, the eastern imperial eagles are fairly easily told from the [[golden eagle]] by being much darker with less broad wings that are held much flatter. The golden eagle, unlike imperial eagles, tends to fly with its wings pointed upwards and have a gradual tapering wing shape (somewhat narrower at the base, broader at the primaries). In golden eagles, the tail generally appears narrower and squarer in shape. At closer range, the pale area on the back of the head and neck in eastern imperial eagle may be suggestive to some of the golden eagle's golden nape but is always much paler and chalkier in colour, as well as more strongly contrasted by the otherwise dark feathers and is more extensive.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Clark/><ref name= Naoroji/> Against the somewhat similarly sized but more compact juvenile [[steppe eagle]] (''Aquila nipalensis''), the juvenile eastern imperial eagle does not show a white band on underwing like the steppe. More obviously, the steppe eagle lacks the paler overall colours and contrasting brownish streaking of juvenile imperials. Feather wear can make the wing shape of the two resemble the other but the larger head and less compact frame of the imperial species render its flight profile distinctive.<ref name= Naoroji/> The only darker large booted eagle encountered by the eastern imperial eagle, in its African winter quarters, is the jet-black [[Verreaux's eagle]] (''Aquila verreauxii'') which is more suggestive in size and proportions of the golden eagle. An unlikely source of confusion, the Verreaux's differs in almost all plumage characteristics and has far more tapered wings that pinch in at the base and, like the golden eagle, tends to fly in a fairly strong [[Dihedral (aeronautics)|dihedral]].<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/> In [[Asia]], its proportions and size may be suggestive of the perhaps even rarer [[Pallas's fish eagle]] (''Haliaeetus leucoryphus'') and the two can potentially be mistaken in strongly backlit conditions which obscure their obviously distinct plumages.<ref name= Naoroji/> The large headed and flat winged shape of the imperial eagle may too suggest in silhouette the [[white-tailed eagle]] (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') but that species is usually rather larger bodied and even larger headed with much broader wings and a proportionately shorter tail.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman3/> [[Cinereous vulture]] (''Aegypius monachus''), being similarly dusky overall below, have been suggested as confusion species, but are much larger than imperial eagles with differing proportions (far broader wings, proportionately smaller head and shorter tail) and lack any of the contrasting pale parts of the imperial eagle's plumage.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/>