Zandvlei Trust – Western Cape Raptor Research Programme

Zandvlei Trust

Western Cape Raptor Research Programme – Bladen the Black Eagle.

photograph by Ann Koeslag photograph by Meidad Goren

April 2005 – The begining of another hatching process! by Lucia Rodrigues

Follow this story as it develops .....

07/12/2005 – Lucia reports "Bladen was last heard calling through the mist on Monday 21st November. On three subsequent visits to the Noordhoek peak area, I have only seen the two adults.
I think we can assume he has moved on. He has been fitted with a very visible, bright orange patagial tag on the left wing.
If anyone spots him please report it immediately either to myself, on Capebirdnet, or the FitzPatrick Institute".

31/10/2005 – Lucia reports "I walked along the contour path to see if I could make sense of what a pair of Jackal Buzzards were up to.In order to get there I have to walk past a peak. Bladen habitually sits in a dead tree at the base of this cliff and has of late developed a different call whenever he sees me. He probably does this for every human that he spots walking by.
I started my ascent at 06h00 and when I reached the saddle the 2 adults with Bladen in tow, flew high above me in a southerly direction. Bladen uttering his characteristic "cheuck cheuck" call.
Later in the day, at about noon, on my way back, as I rounded the corner into a ravine, I think I startled Bladen who must have been sitting close by. He flew up from quite close and circled for about 10 metres above me calling his new call, that I find difficult to translate into a word. He more or less followed me down the path for about 5 minutes before flying off to his favourite perch. About 10 minutes later I again heard him call close by and turning round, saw that he again had flown to right above me. This he kept up for about 5 minutes as I kept on walking, turning around every few steps to talk to him. As before he eventually turned around and flew back into his ravine.
I really cannot say if this is unusual or not. Last season I never got this close to Argo, but then I never walked the lower contour path".

26/10/2005 – Rob Kamstra reports "I was hiking coming down from the mountain at about 3 pm. I had best black eagle sighting ever. Nearly ran for cover. Two adults and a juvenile, above the path and below, doing aerobatics and frequently returning to fly very low over my head. In particular the juvenile was very bold/inquisitive. They were very vocal. Again particularly the juvenile. I thought at times they might attack me and became quite nervous. It continued for about 15 minutes, and we went our ways".

20/10/2005 – Peter Steyn reports; "10h10 – Arrive at observation ledge with birdwatcher from California.

10h20 – Bladen makes a spectacular circuit and swoops onto a ledge 25 -30 metres below nest. Bare patch of soil, yellow flowering bush identifies it. Persistently buzzed by one of those red hawk things Anthony studies - must be a nest nearby. Bladen lies down and relaxes but kestrel still misbehaving. Tag intact and very visible, good job!

10h30 – Both parents fly in from the Cape Town side, female carrying prey. Land on ledge beside Bladen who grabs prey, a good sized three-quarter grown dassie and mantles over it. He starts tearing at it and BOTH parents stay on ledge watching him. Then they chill out and relax completely, preening etc. while Bladen munches on. Rockies try a few more dive-bombs at adults. Adults remains completely relaxed and Bladen eventually exposes the meaty flesh and eats away.

11h30 – No change in activity, Bladen still munching, so decide to leave to show friend view from top of Noordhoek peak.

11h45 – On way down from peak I went back for a quick look to find female eating prey with Bladen looking a trifle nonplussed over her shoulder. Left after a few minutes with female still feeding and all three on ledge in perfect amity. This is post-fledging behaviour I've never seen before as, usually, once the prey is delivered the parent(s) push off and leave the juvenile to it. Friend from California totally gobsmacked, as he should be. Here endeth the lesson according to Saint Peter".

22/09/2005 – Lucia reports "I stationed myself below the nest today from about 12h00 to 16h00.
Bladen is alive and well and still the darling of his two most attentive parents. His orange patagial tag works extremely well. It is virtually impossible to miss. He does not fly about much, but did clear the skyline as I arrived. For the rest he sat out of sight until the adults returned at 14h00 with what I took to be a dassie. (I find a dassie hanging from the talons of a BE, seems to have very long hind legs, so I find myself wondering if it could be a hare). This time when he saw the food he flew out to meet them, so there is progress.
The food was dropped off for him and he was allowed to do with it as he pleased. He played with it, as I believe many youngsters do, before he settled down to eating. When I left, one of the adults had picked up a remnant or remains and both adults flew to a rocky ledge amidst vegetation and without either getting possesive, sat next to each other.

Other raptors seen: One Perrie flying into the ravine from northern direction, circled to gain height before going back to in the direction it came from. Pair of Rockies were scarce, but there, could not tell what they were up to. Pair of Jackal Buzzard's calling and flying, neither challenging nor being challenged by the Black Eagle's. And oh yes, there were whales in the bay.
Another spring day in Africa!!!"

29/09/2005 – Lucia reports "Bladen, whom we assume to be male because he weighed 0.9 kgs less than Argo, (males are always smaller) fledged at 79 days on the 20th August. 12 days earlier than expected. When I eventually found him on the 29th after having heard him call on previous visits, he seemed to be in the same spot I had heard the calls come from before. He also did not budge when his parents flew in with food, which led me to believe he had floated down from the nest and stayed put for the next 10 days.
I first saw him fly on the 6th September and these were tentative short distances, from one perch to the next and not clearing the skyline. During this time the adults were extremely protective, giving furious chase to any other raptor that ventured too close for their liking".

29/08/2005 – Lucia reports "I had a deeply satisfying day, today. I have just realised that it is exactly a month (and a day) ago I had the first full day vigil. Wind 0 to 1, what seemed to be NE in the morning and NW towards late afternoon. The "clouds" high and lightly streaming were moving from the NW all day. Cloud cover was practically 0. Temperature above 10 degrees when I started out and probably got to about 15 degrees, but only by mid to late afternoon.

07h00 reached the saddle.
08h00 reached my observation point which is a 250 metre scramble up the slope from the contour path after crossing the ravine north of the nest cliff. Noticed about a dozen swirling Black or Eurasian Swifts calling and circling above the skyline. A pair of WNR's dipping in and out of sight.
08h12 pair (?) of Rockies (Rock Kestrels) flying above the skyline, one dipping out of sight against the cliff, the other disappeared to the north.
09h24 Perrie appears from behind NHP, flies along the top of the mountain towards the north and disappears. One and only sighting of a Perrie (Peregrine Falcon) for the day.
09h38 Rockie briefly sighted over the "north corner".
09h52 Rockie circling above in and out of sight, flies along the mountain ridge, past NH Peak and disappears.
10h02 Rockie appearing again over NHP.
11h25 heard a dassie alarm call once I did have Troy (dog) with me.
11h47 noticed a Jackal Buzzard (JB) far below on a rock, drinking water, then sitting perched and quite still, looking around intently.
12h04 JB left perch, flew north, disappeared, reappeared, circling and soaring, gaining height
12h07 JB disappears from sight.
13h00 no sight or sound from BE's (Black Eagles) yet, so I decide to move to another spot.
13h35 on contour path walking in the BB direction I came across a pair of JB's flying around together, calling, swinging towards each other with legs and feet mock grappling.
13h43 lost sight of JB's, continued down the path.
13h55 reached the last buttress before BB, decided to turn back, no sight of BE's, thought they are probabaly not around with the JB's looking so comfortable.
14h15 on my way back see an adult BE sitting on a prominent and favourite perch on a ridge south of the nest!!!!!
14h30 back in the same area as earlier, on a rock about 5 metres off the path, the perched BE comfortingly in my scope.
14h38 see the Rockie yet again flying over and dipping behind the "furtherest" ridge towards NH.

From here on in, events overtook me and my careful note taking went awry. This is how I remember it.

Watching the busy little rockie flitting about, came round the corner fast, somehow must have forgotten about the perched BE, as it seemed to take last minute evasive action. The BE certainly gave no sign of having even noticed it. Suddenly the second adult appears carrying food!!!!!!!

Although impossible to confirm, my guess is that it was dassie. Both adults flew into the ravine. I dropped everything and scrambled back up the slope with my scope and bins. Bladen started calling!. The little bugger had been there all morning, as silent as a churchmouse! By the time I got to the spot I was earlier, the adults were flying out of the ravine again, one adult still clutching the prey. Bladen still calling lustily. I could not see him. They flew back in again, this time settled on a rock, (which I discovered later was about 30 meters below Bladen's position)

One of the adults started pulling at the prey, not sure if s/he was eating. Both flew out again, with the prey, then as before within a minute or two flew back in for the third time. This time straight next to Bladen. I did not realise this at first because he was so well hidden, behind a thick clump of vegetation!
No wonder I could not find him. I mistook his wing, for what I first thought to be a strange cream coloured rock. The adult had obviously given him the food and he was mantling it. He was still calling all this time. I would have loved to have taped it. He is situated about 100 metres below the nest on the first vegetated "step", more than just a ledge, to the north of the nest, but still on the nest side of the ravine. I am sure that is where he flew down to, from the nest and has stayed there. I was probably about 300 metres away from them.

It was a beautiful sight to see both adults sitting together on a low oblong rock close to where Bladen was feeding himself, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. He was still almost totally obscured by the vegetation, calling and eating, calling and eating. I could alternatively clearly see his bright yellow beak, russet crown, a bit of tail and wing, (with a flash of orange tag), as he rocked back and forth eating. It took a while for him to settle down to this routine. Just after the food had been given to him he stepped about in an unsteady fashion with semi raised wings. He ate for over two hours!!

During this time I heard a dassie alarm call once. A single Rockie flying about, lower down this time, harassing a Rock Pigeon off a ledge. There is a fair bit of rock pigeon activity on this cliff. I was not able to establish if there is a specific spot the Rockie was interested in, but will be back to take another look. I never heard any rockie calling during the day.

After about an hour or so, one of the adults flew off the rock and back up to the perch it was on before. I think it was probably the female who stayed behind.

I made my way down to my backpack and saw it was 17h27. Looking back up, I saw that the female had come off the rock as well. She was eating herself and alternately still feeding Bladen. For the first time Bladen stepped clear of the vegetation and I could see him in his full glory. Truly a most beautiful eagle. The patagial tag in perfect position.

photograph by Anthony van Zyl

Lucia with "Bladen" see the yellow wing tag.

Then I looked up, the male had disappeared from his perch. I left Bladen, who was again obscured by vegetation, with mom and headed back for my car.

What a day! By contrast the stunning sunset paled into insignificance, although a fitting end to a wonderful day".

28/07/2005 – Hi all, had a wonderful day. Lucia reports "This is a long winded account, typed up more for my own record than an expectation that it will be read by others.Weather clear, sunny and warm. Light easterly that sometimes seemed westerly and at other times dropped away completely.
07h40 arrived at the nest, female feeding herself and the chick from a dassie that looks reasonably fresh as though caught the day before.
07h50 male Rockie flies by from below us towards Noordhoek (NH) Peak.
08h00 one Peregrine Falcon flies up from behind NH Peak, flew out over the sea in a SW direction followed by a 2nd Perrie, both turn and fly back towards NH Peak and disappear behind the cairn. (first and last sighting for the entire day of PF's).
08h15 male BE appears from below, flies past the nest and disappears behind the side of NH Peak. Female leaves the nest, flies out to sea in a SW direction and disappears towards Chapmans Peak
08h30 female reappears from behind NH Peak, wings held stiffly in a V, turns and lands on a rock between us and the nest.
08h55 female flies off her perch, again towards Chapmans Peak.
08h57 reappeared round the corner of NH Peak and perches on a rock south of the nest.
09h00 flew off her perch and disappears below us.
11h40 spotted an adult (turned out to be the female) sitting on a habitual perch north of the nest, don't know how long it had been there.
12h00 she turns round and defecates, flies off, past the nest and disappears round the side of NH Peak.
12h02 she reappears, flies onto the nest, fiddles with the remains of the dassie, chick pays no attention, clearly see the head still attached as on previous occasions, by a long string of pelt. She picks up the dassie and disappears below me with it.
12h05 I clamber down to try and see where she goes with it, looked back towards the nest and see the male flying in circles, in and out of sight behind the side of NH Peak.
12h10 female flies up from below me, without dassie, flies past below me a couple times before again settling on a favourite perch north of the nest. As she lands she dislodges a Rockie, which flies past me and also disappears behind the side of NH Peak.
12h17 female leaves this perch and flies onto the nest, chick stood up, preened and defecated. The female is easily identified because she always has some white streaks on her plumage, despite the chick doing its best to clear the edge of the nest.
12h20 female leaves the nest and flies onto the face below me.

photograph by Max du Plessis

Black Eagle parent sitting nearby.

12h35 chick comes from under the ledge and lies spreadeagled. Its wings are entirely feathered, crown and nape russet, cheeks black, legs look strong and fully feathered in cream, huge pale yellow feet, serious black claws. When lying down his feet are curled up in a relaxed manner. The rump still seems white and fluffy.

photograph by Anthony van Zyl

"Bladen" with his big yellow feet.

12h50 suddenly noticed the female on an uncomfortable ledge below the nest, she jumps down into the middle of a fynbos bush, sits there for a minute or so, makes no attempt to pick any greenery, I hear her call before flying off to the same perch north of the nest.
12h55 flew off this perch, into the ravine between us and the perch. She gave one "cheouk" call before disappearing into this ravine.
13h00 to 13h05 both adults appear on the NH side flying in circles, in and out of sight, female reappears with what looks like a string of dassie and flies to the nest. By the time I scramble to the scope she has started feeding herself and the chick. Tucked under the ledge, with her back to me and the chick almost out of sight it is very difficult for me to make out what they are eating. It looks like a piece of dassie, a lot fresher than the one she removed. The chick also leapt up and ran towards her when she landed with this food as though it was something new. The chick also pecks at the food from time to time. Female feeds the chick a bit of flesh attached to a bit of bone, the chick drops it and the female eats it. She also finished off the entire bit of hairy pelt by swallowing it.
13h30 they finish eating, mom preens, chick turns around, defecates and a bit lands on mom!
13h35 male is sitting on a rock high up on a buttress south of the nest
13h55 female leaves the nest flies towards me, male joins her and both fly in circles below and at me eye level. Rockie flies up from the face below me and circles about too. No confrontation takes place. It flies up and over the slope of NH Peak and disappears.
14h00 female lands on a ledge in the "waterfall" very close below me to the south, She drinks several times and then deliberately stands under the fine spray as if to take a shower. She looks up at me from time to time but seems completely at ease. I have never been this close to her before. She flies off to join the male on the buttress south of the nest. Chick stands up looking intently at me, as it has been doing and continued to do the entire day, whether sitting, standing or lying down.
14h10 Chick now sits facing me, one leg stretched out in front of it, leaning forward I can clearly for the first time what a "full crop" looks like.

photograph by Anthony van Zyl

"Bladen" before he was wing tagged. Also note the feather colouring and background rock and dry vegetation colouring to help camouflage him at this vulnerable time.

14h20 female has hopped off her top rock to about 6 feet lower down next to a rockpool of water.
14h25 male rouses himself, flies off, past the nest and disappears below me.
14h30 male reappears below me flying past the nest 3 times and joins the female next to the rock pool. The female stands in the pool and allows the male to briefly clamber onto her before he slips off. She drinks some water and flicks her beak through the water a couple times. Both birds end up sitting close together
15h15 female defecates.
15h35 male defecates and the female moves onto a rock a little to the right.
15h55 notice the Rock Kestrel again circling low below me ever higher and higher until it clears NH Peak and disappears behind the cairn.
16h10 Both BE's leave the rockpool perch and fly in slow circles, higher and higher until both head off towards Hout Bay/Llandudno ridge.
16h40 Both birds reappear from the Hout Bay direction and I can't help wondering how far they actually ventured. Female lands on the top buttress directly above the nest, male joins her after a while and tries to mount her again. It seems to be a mutually amicable yet half hearted attempt, almost as though it it some gesture of affection.
17h30 BE's are still sitting in the same spot. The Rock Kestrel appears from behind NH Peak again and dives down on the eagles with great purpose. The male BE however merely shrugs it off and the Rock Kestrel flies past us and then back again from where it came from, behind NH Peak.
17h50 A Rockie appears way below the nest and sits on a small rock, before disappearing around the corner to the south.
18h00 female BE flies off the perch above the nest and disappears below us.

I heard no raptors calling besides the 2 occasions the female BE gave a brief call. Never heard the chick call either. Other smaller birds about were Rock Pigeon, Redwinged Starlings, Rock Martins, Orangebreasted Sunbirds, Cape Siskins, Familiar Chats, GWP
I saw (nor heard) dassies, but Max du Plessis the Conservation Student who was with me saw a dassie as we arrived at the nest".

07/06/2005 – Peter Steyn relates the following observations with 3 other people in the group;

09h50 Arrive at my usual observation ledge and the chick is lying in the middle of the nest in a prone position.
7 fresh pine sprigs on nest, two apparently indigenous sprigs, and all the dry ones appear to be pine. A thought - are pine sprigs selected preferentially (insect repellent resin?).
Why I ask is that my Slivermine nest in 1954 (see Eagle Days) also had a copious lining of fresh pine sprigs. What do the boffins think?

Peter Steyn at a Black Eagles nest refered to above.
The future Ou Kaapse Weg route behind him.

Soon after our arrival we discovered, fortunately without flushing her, that the female was perched on the edge of the cliff, just 20 - 25 metres from us (i.e. to right of observation point – OP). We peeped cautiously at her, and she stared back imperiously, with no intention of giving up her right to perch priority. She was completely relaxed and even preened. She knew we were there and could hear us talking, but was completely laid back.10h47 Sun reached middle of nest, and chick. It disappears to back of nest where it is not visible from the OP.

11h05 Chicks emerges, stands, defecates, walks round briefly and disappears to back of nest. Chick's crop is empty.

11h55 After 2 hours on perch near us female flies off, perches briefly on ridge, and then disappears.

14h10 Female reappears for first time in 2 hours and flies back and forth in front of nest but shows no intention of alighting. No calling from chick which should be ravenous by now.

14h20 Female flies out of sight.

14h43 Female reappears flies back and forth again and low over our heads and disappears at 14h47.

15h00 Chick emerges, stands and defecates for only the second time. Then back out of sight at back of nest.

15h05 Brief sighting of female.

15h15 Ditto

15h40 Both birds appear and male carrying a dassie (the first time he has been seen all day).

photograph by Meidad Goren

15h43 Female lands on nest and chick emerges into shade beneath her.

15h47 Male appears to be having trouble landing at nest (it was an almost windless day) so female leaves nest and they disappear from sight.

15h50 Female onto nest with medium sized dassie, partially eaten but head intact. Male flies out of sight but this was the first time the entire day that the Ravens appeared - do they follow hoping for scraps?

16h00 We leave female plucking dassie and starting to fed chick.

Postscript: It appears that chick can be left unattended, female's behaviour did not suggest we were a factor, and he was out of sight most of the time at the back of the nest. Kestrels appear to be prospecting for a nest site in the area, this needs to be watched.
A stompie of Camel cigarette and bottle top on OP ledge - surely not team members - who then?

05/07/2005 – Ann Koeslag took this picture below today, when visiting the site.

photograph by Ann Koeslag

Chick about 5 weeks old now.

07/06/2005 – Today, I received word from Rob Simmons that the second chick has hatched. This is about four or five days after the first chick hatched which is the same interval the two eggs are laid. As you know in Black Eagles, only one chick survives because the older chick brutally bullies its younger sibling by pecking it and taking all the food offered. Strangely the adults do not intervene. Although theories abound, scientists still do not have an explanation for this phenomenon.
However every once in a while both chicks survive and with this bad weather, the chicks will need a lot of warmth and shelter, so mom will be brooding them continuously. Maybe this could improve the chances of the second chick surviving. Who knows?

photograph by Rob Simmons

The second chick has hatched from the eggshell on the right.

Rob Simmons reports on his observations;

Arrived 9h45. Cold front ominous to NW, cold (10 -12oC) wind 4 out of 6 strengthening. Waterfall droplets going upwards! Took a picture of Anthony v Zyl looking through vibrating scope.

9:45 Female on nest brooding, no male seen. Female looking wet, shifting suddenly and looking down every 2-4 mins. Presume in response to chicks. 2 small-medium dassies on nest ledge, largely untouched.

10h00 Male in to area with small-medium dassie, landed ledge below nest, female calling, off nest revealing 2 chicks for first time - egg shell of second, still evident. Down sticky on back of Abel (2nd) suggests
hatched this morning. Little movement by him/her, Cain now either 4 or 5 days old, held head up high but NO blows to Abel, in the approx 2 mins the female was off. Male left prey as female arrived and flew to nest for about 15 sec, female back with prey and mantled it and the chicks, until the male left. She fed neither herself nor chicks, but brooded them until 10h35 (10h40 the sun strikes the nest for the first time as shadow of the mountain passes over nest).

10h35 Feeds Cain for about 5 min from the fresh dassie, none given to Abel but he is not interested - head down most of time (asleep?). No aggression seen. Egg shell still in the nest. Female re-settles on chicks on finishing feed, 3 dassies on nest. She continues to jump while brooding, looking down as Cain moves just under her breast feathers (seen from time to time). Wind seemingly not striking nest as females feathers rarely ruffled. Updraft is intense and may "protect" her.

11h10 Too cold to continue (even my dog is shivering). The female still brooding, weather threatening and wind up to 5. Dungeons waves looking huge and some surfers out there looking like ants in a bath!

Watch: 85 min, 1 prey item, 1 feed of about 5 min to Cain only. Abel is likely to disappear in the next few days and I would like to know, how much aggression is shown to him/her if anyone can get up there.
If cold weather increases amount of time the F broods then the process may take longer than normal.

05/06/2005 – Ann Koeslag reports that she could not identify the carcass being carried to the nest by the bird on the left, below.

photograph by Ann Koeslag

The bird on the left is carrying a carcass to the nest.

photograph by Ann Koeslag

The carcass can be seen in front of the chick, the second egg is behind the chick.

04/06/2005 – I am delighted to be able to report my visit to the nest today, confirmed the first chick had hatched. The weather conditions on the previous 3 days were so bad visibility was 0, therefore I cannot be sure when this first chick hatched except to guess it could have been the 2nd June which was the same day Argo hatched last year!
Just after I arrived at the nest the clouds parted, sun streamed down and the female Black Eagle stood up and from beneath her tumbled the dearest little white chick. It's head was erect one moment and lolling about the next.
Mom started feeding it from a dassie carcass and this was quite a treat to watch. Priceless in fact. The chick's movements were unco-ordinated, so that at times it would snap wildly and completely miss the morsal being offered by mom. At other times it was right on the button and it would snatch the morsal of food, throw back its little head and gulp the food down. It's quite surreal to watch an adult Black Eagle, with impressive talons and fearsome beak perform the gentlest of manoeuvres to feed her precious chick. Every morsal that was dropped was meticulously removed. Either offered again or eaten by herself. Some Black Eagle pairs have sloppy housekeeping skills, others like the Silvermine pair are scrupulously clean which increases the chances of survival for the chick. The cleaner the nest, the less likely it will be infested with maggots, flies and ticks. All of which can be hazardous to the chick.

14/05/2005 – Arrived at 13h00. The female was incubating. A couple of minutes later the male arrives, flies a few circles before disappearing. The female shows no reaction and calmly continues incubating.
13h35: Female stands up, does a bit of preening, moves eggs and greenery around a bit, and settles down again, carefully rocking from side to side.
14h20: Male appears and flies by the nest a few times and settles on a favourite perch north of the nest.
14h25: Female gets up, calls to her mate as she flies over to him. Both birds fly around a bit before disappearing briefly around the first peak to the north of the nest. Female reappears and flies straight to the nest and settles down.
Ann and her volunteers arrived to help monitoring.

photograph by Ann Koeslag

The male on the nest with the pine needle sprig 14/05/2005.

14h45: Male reappears, flies about and then to a small vegetated rocky outcrop. I first thought he was picking some greenery, but upon closer inspection saw that it was a piece of food he/they had cached there. He picked it up, flew down to the sandy ledge just below the nest where he ate all of it.
15h20: Male flies onto the nest with a sprig of green pine needles, speaks softly to his mate who gets up and allows him to take over incubating. He rearranges the green sprigs on the nest before settling down, every bit as competent as the female.
16h00: I leave the nest site. The female has not returned yet. She has flown by a couple of times to make sure her mate is still sitting tight.

During this time the local pair of Rock Kestrels flew about on two occasions in the presence of both Black Eagle's. Both parties seemed to ignore each other.

10/05/2005 – Ann and Lucia were at the nest site, and after Lucia had to leave, Ann got a photo of the female with the two eggs. A while later it went off and returned with some greenery to re–line the nest.

photographs by Ann Koeslag

The female at the nest with the 2 eggs. Returning to the nest with some greenery.

03/05/2005 – Ann Koeslag took Heather Howell and Tish Foyle up to monitor the eagle's nest this afternoon.

photograph by Tish Foyle

Ann and Heather very apprehensive about sitting so near the steep drop, in the gusting wind on the mountain.

We arrived about 2pm. Just before getting to the viewing place, both birds passed us by on the wing but when we arrived and could see the nest, one was already back on it. The other bird arrived and during the change over we could see both eggs. The leaving bird (who I am sure was the male) disappeared. The bird remaining on the nest tidied sticks within her reach. Later the male came past, disappeared into the cloud, reappeared before disappearing again. A while later we spotted him sitting on the cliff south of and below the nest.
2.40 pm it takes off and disappears into the now not inconsiderable cloud. We left at that point.

19/04/2005 – I can confirm that there is one egg in the Black Eagle's nest. Rob Simmons comments – Great News, and good timing! Sunday up to about 11 am, we (Ann and I) can confirm no egg.
So you have narrowed it down to a 47 h period. Try if you have the energy, for a Wednesday and Thursday visit for the second egg.
The north wester was roaring, the clouds threatening and freezing, when I got there at 10h00 today. I did not make it to the nest yesterday, so I'll have to assume it was laid either on Sunday afternoon or yesterday, Monday.

When I arrived at the nest the female was sitting tight. My first thought was, an egg had been laid, but could not be sure. A little while later she got up to turn around and that is when I saw the egg for the first time. A moment later I understood why she turned around, for the male had arrived bearing the gift of food. As far as I could make out, it was the remains of a Dassie. Lots of flapping pelt led me to assume this. Because of the roaring gale the male held his wings in a tight E and swooped about in the wind for a bit before disappearing against the cliff below me, where he deposited the food. The female left the nest, calling softly and both birds proceeded to swoop around, sometimes hanging in the wind with their legs down and tail up, wings in a tight E, then by simply tilting forward they would swoop down at great speed, but only for a short distance, before rising up again. This only lasted for about 5, maybe 7 minutes. The male flew to the nest and I lost sight of the female, who I presumed had gone to inspect the food.
The male landed on the nest and stood awkwardly over the egg for a while, facing outwards, before settling down gingerly. He had hardly done this, when the female flew onto the nest. She stood closely behind him until he got up and flew off. She then settled down and looked as though she was going to stay put for quite a while.
I unfortunately had to leave, but was well satisfied by all the activity I had been fortunate to witness in just over half an hour.
Let me add that I say male and female (for the sake of brevity) based on my interpretation of their behaviour and not because I can see the difference between them, so I stand to be corrected.

24/04/2005 – The Black Eagles have laid their 2nd egg. Unfortunately I could not get to the nest on Friday and Saturday. The weather was so bad that visibility was nil and it was totally impossible to see the nest. I badly wanted to peg down the exact day the 2nd egg was laid, but the best I can do is between 13h30 on Thursday 21st when they still had one egg and 13h30 Sunday 24th when I saw the 2nd egg. My guess is that it was laid on either Friday or Saturday which is the 4th or 5th day since the 1st egg, which is the normal laying interval.

Please contact Lucia Rodrigues with any sightings of Black Eagles.

083 325 8881
email signet@mweb.co.za