What bird appears above the vertical stripes on Zambia's national flag?

The bird above the vertical stripes on Zambia’s national flag is the African fish eagle.

It appears in orange, flying above a block of three vertical stripes at the flag’s fly end. Those stripes run from left to right in red, black, and orange. The eagle is not merely decorative: it represents the ability of the Zambian people to rise above the nation’s difficulties and is also featured on Zambia’s coat of arms.

Zambia adopted the flag at independence on 24 October 1964, under its first republican president, Kenneth Kaunda. Before independence, the territory was the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia and used a Blue Ensign. The flag’s green field represents vegetation and agriculture; red recalls the struggle for freedom; black represents the Zambian people and Black Africans; and orange points to copper and other mineral wealth. A 1996 modification brightened the green and refined the eagle’s appearance, but the bird’s identity remained the same.