13 Dec 2012 - Bagged & Ringed

At about 13 weeks of age, the young eagle bravely submitted itself to the UKZN Crowned Eagle research programme. 

Going where no man has dared go before, Shane hauled himself up to the nest, while keeping a wary watch  for defensive parents and threatening neighbours.

Gently bagged and lowered to the ground, the eaglet was weighed, measured and ringed by Shane, assisted by fearless Patrick.

 Careful as he was to avoid those fierce talons, Patrick suffered one puncture.

 Returned to the nest in half an hour, with only a few ruffled feathers, Esther settled down and by next morning the whole episode was put in the past as she got on with her next meal.

Data gathered by Shane for his research programme will help in the conservation and protection of this magnificent bird.

2 Dec 2012 - First Leap

13 weeks: The breeze came up and Esther jumped at the opportunity to test her lift, taking her first delightful leap into space and landing firmly on two feet...

Testing

Esther (we've named her) tests her beak strength on a handy stump, then as a breeze wafts through she lifts her wings and practices her balance. Notice the tail feathers have started to sprout...

Preening

Mother & child

...now where did she go?

10 weeks - naturally inquisitive

Chick is very alert to its surroundings - pecks and tests everything within reach of her beak...

9 weeks old and growing!

Looking more like an eagle every day - like my mom...

Proud Mother

More Feathers

31 Oct - A week later...

First Feathers

24 Oct - First feathers appearing on Chick's wings. Though starting to feed itself, it still likes Mom to tackle the tough bits...

Meal delivery

Dad brings in the morning meal...Mum eagley ...er...eagerly pounces on it and shrouds it with her wings for a couple of minutes - making sure that is properly dead and going nowhere...

Bunny fluff

I may have a fluffy tail - but am no bunny...

Table manners

Young Chick, if you want to be a raptor you have to attack your food...like this...now you try...

Milestone

2012-10-16 Mum encourages Chick to peck at the carcass as they feed together.

2012-10-17 Milestone. Mum carries breakfast into the nest, wakes Chick, then moves out to a branch, leaving Chick to feed itself.

Breakfast

We've had wet weather for a whole week, so Chick has been bunkered down out of site. But 2 days ago the weather cleared enough for breakfast in the open. Chick is feeding well.

 

Below is a short video clip (3.7 MB)

First Sight

We're very excited! First sight of chick this morning, being fed breakfast by mother. Looks healthy. About 3 weeks old, we guess. We had a friendly visit from Shane & Mia on Saturday, doing their inspection rounds. As Shane noted, mother does not put food in chick's beak; she holds it in front of chick and chick has to pick and pull it from her. Training begins early! Here's our first pic of chick (poor quality phone-pic of camera-LCD of video-frame through telescope - but worth showing nonetheless). Expect more activity and blog updates soon!

16 Sep 2012: Preparing the Nursery

This morning, after a few days of cold heavy rain, the sky cleared for the warm spring sun. The female took a short glide to a nearby tree, spreading her wings to dry off. Then she selected a nice soft leafy branch to add to the lining of the nest.

 This one will do nicely...

July 2012: The Nest

Their nest is huge! Nearly 2 metres in diameter and a metre deep. It sits 30m up in the tallest, strongest gum tree around. We've watched it hold perfectly steady in gusty winds that have bowed every other tree to their roots...

It's really quite entertaining to watch the pair conflabbing about where/how a new stick should be laid in the structure of the nest. One brings in a stick and plonks it down, the other sizes it up and tentatively places it, only to have it shifted by the other, then again shifted by the other...until finally they are both satisfied with the arrangement of the new furniture...

Nest building

Both birds were busy in the winter months rebuilding the nest for the new breeding season. I listen out for the crack of a breaking branch and watch with amazement at the size of the woodwork they sometimes carry into the nest. I have to be pretty sharp (and lucky) with the camera to get a photo like this...

June 2012: Mating, accompanied by an appropriate squeal (not sure if it's him or her).

Blog Start

The African Crowned Eagle. Recently introduced to Shane McPherson's research on the local Crowned Eagle population (http://kzn-ce.blogspot.com/), I figure it's time for me to chip in, since I have the privilege of a nest site virtually on my doorstep. Over the last few years I’ve recorded hundreds of photo’s, many hours of video and a wad of anecdotal observation. I may as well share some of that with other folk who may be interested. Our happy couple is about to produce a chick, so watch this space...