Zandvlei Trust

Western Cape Raptor Research Programme –

The Verreauxs (Black Eagles) on the Cape Peninsula.

Follow the new life of 'Dana'  (day-na) in 2007

22/09/2007 – Lucia reports" I regret to tell you that thus far I have not been able to locate Dana.
I staked out the nest vicinity on Wednesday from below along the contour path and Thursday from above, the same spot Andrew and I had chosen on Tuesday. Both the adults were about, alternating between perching and patrolling, chasing other raptors out of the area.
At no stage did they fly in with food, although on Thursday the female, I think it was, flew down onto a rock below me, where she had cached some food.

After picking at it, she flew off with it towards Constantiaberg. I cannot say for certain whether I heard the chick call. Thought it did on two occasions, but it might have been wishful thinking.

Three Silvermine SANPark rangers assisted on Thursday morning watching the area before I was able to get there. They reported seeing the adults flying in circles over the slopes below the nest and calling continually.

18/09/2007 – Lucia reports" Andrew and I were at NH Peak this morning with the intention to abseil down to ring and tag Dana. But the chick was not on the nest.

Tomorrow she (I just have a feeling the chick is a female this year) will be 10 weeks old, far too young to fledge.Previous chicks have fledged between 79 to 86 days. Dana was probably 65+ days when she left the nest. Last time I saw her was on Friday. Lying quietly on the edge of the nest in the sun. She looked fine, tail a little longer than the Porcupine Hills chick we ringed last week, so I guessed her seemingly slower development was not an issue anymore.

Both adults were in the vicinity, behaving normally. Our guess is she slipped off the nest, some nesting material a little lower down indicates this might have happened. Andrew and I found a great lookout spot a little further round facing the entire cliff and surrounding slopes. We sat watching and listening for about 3 hours but are none the wiser as far as the chick’s whereabouts is concerned. I am hoping she is well and sitting tight somewhere.
I am going back there tomorrow to see if I have better luck at finding her".

22/07/2007 – Lucia reports" I walked up to the nest early afternoon yesterday and took this picture. I
thought it was a vlei rat until Andrew said they don't have long tails. This one did, although it may not be clear on the picture. It looked like a large rat except for that white ring around it's "hips". I could not see the head because it was either missing or covered by a very green leafy twig. The chick, all of 10 days old, was very cute. Sitting up, stretching it's neck, trying to hold still a very wobbly head. Nevertheless able to shuffle around the nest cup well enough, to aim it's little bottom over the nest cup rim and give a tiny squirt. So cute! :-)

photograph by Lucia Rodrigues

Dana at 10 days old

Also saw two adult eagles flying below me. First thought was, that they were the adult pair, until I saw the one below roll over and both eagles grappled briefly before flying in a quick zig zag motion in a southerly direction. Just before disappearing from sight around the corner the lower eagle rolled over again and again they grappled briefly. I was still wondering why they were behaving in this fashion I had never noticed before, when it dawned on me, that we had an intruding Verreaux Eagle being chased off by one of the adults.
On a mountain chain that only has four eagles, I get VERY excited at the thought of one more".

11/07/2007 – Lucia reports "The eagles are still incubating their single egg.
I have been going up daily since Sunday as this marks the 45th day since the 1st day the egg could have been laid, namely 24th May. I only discovered the egg on 1st June, so I guess I have until Monday, Tuesday next week to find out whether this egg is fertile or not.

Recap
Since 2004 to illustrate how different this breeding season has been.

• 2004, 1st chick hatches 3rd June. 2 eggs laid and both hatched.

• 2005, 1st chick hatches 3rd June. 2 eggs laid and both hatched.

• 2006, a chick hatches 2 weeks later, mid June. 2 eggs were laid and only the 2nd one hatches.

• 2007, only one egg is laid.

Val Gargett’s, 'Black Eagle', suggests it is common for the eagles to start bringing food onto the nest several days before the chick hatches.
I have not experienced this with the Silvermine pair, until this year. 

Observations
Sunday, there was no prey on the nest and both birds were very restless during incubation, frequently peering down at the nest. Monday, on arrival I found the incubating eagle on the nest along with a headless dassie carcass. A chick, I was convinced. But when the eagle stood up, only the egg appeared.
Yesterday, Tuesday, again an incubating eagle, with a second dassie carcass, this time head, full pelt and all. And still the egg. I studied the egg closely in bright sunshine, through my scope and could not detect any cracks. (not entirely sure I could have detected this in the first place, but tried nevertheless)

In previous years, I would arrive at the nest, close to hatching, and find only eggs and no prey.
Hatching day, prey and chick.

In previous years on all occasions, I have only seen headless dassies on the nest. Although I do recall one day, seeing the female fly off the nest holding a dassie skull in her beak, which she disposed of before flying back onto the nest.
Yesterday the dassie looked intact, unscathed head, glassy eye and all.
The female stood up after a while and fed on the carcass for about 10 minutes, disemboweling it.

I don’t know how significant these differences are. 
If anyone wishes to comment, I would be interested to hear what you think".

05/07/2007 – Lucia reports "The Silvermine pair is breeding again this year, but of concern is the fact that they are incubating one egg only. Thankfully they are very conscientious about it and should it be fertile, we will have a chick, mid July".

01/06/2007 – Lucia reports" the good news is that at last we have an egg. A lot later that last year. I walked up this afternoon and found the female incubating. After awhile she got up, flew off the nest and was almost immediately joined by the male. They soared in tandem, disappeared into the next ravine, but soon re-appeared, both heading towards the nest. The male landed first, made his way towards the nest cup and repositioned the egg, before settling down. But not for long, the female landed on the nest soon after he did and stood to one side while her partner fiddled with the nest cup. However as soon as it bacame apparent that he was getting too comfortable on the nest, she stepped forward and he immediately obliged by standing up and allowing her to take over. I noticed he had a nice full crop.

photograph by Lucia Rodrigues

The new beginings for the 2007 season

My previous visit had been on Wednesday 23rd May, no egg yet, but as before always a freshly lined nest cup. I was beginning to think they would never lay an egg. The first 2 years 2004 and 2005 the first egg was laid around 19th April. 2006 the first egg was laid around the 1st May, and this year more than 3 weeks later. I hope to get a more accurate time on the laying of the 2nd egg and will keep you posted

General – Verreauxs Eagles

05/05/2007 - Lucia reports "I thought to remind you that we currently have 3 tagged juvenile Verreaux's Eagles flying around our mountains. Bladen, our 2005 Silvermine chick, orange wing tag, (see attached picture) was re - sighted at Smitswinkel Bay, just short of a year after tagging. Over the following few days he was spotted flying along Plateau Road and then back in Silvermine near Elephant's Eye. He was last seen in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve on the 26th October 2006.

photograph by Andrew Jenkins

'Bladen' at Smitswinkel Bay

During the 2006 breeding season, two juveniles, were wing tagged. Canute from the Silvermine nest and a chick from the Steenbras nest east of False Bay. An attached picture shows Canute with a white tag on the left wing coded BR01 in black. The Steenbras chick has the same colour tag, coded BR02 on the right wing.

photograph by Andrew Jenkins                                                 photograph by Andrew Jenkins

'Canute'  – BR01 (bru 1)                                        Steenbras Chick (no name brand) – BR02 (bru 2)

The last time I saw Canute was earlier this year in January flying over Vlakkenberg and being harassed by some plucky Rock Kestrels. To the best of my knowledge the Steenbras chick has not been spotted since leaving her natal area.

The purpose of the tagging is to find out where they disperse to. Please keep a lookout for these youngsters and report any sightings to either myself, Andrew or Anthony. They could be anywhere".

12/03/2007 – Lucia reports "I had a lovely walk in Silvermine this morning. The nest still looks entirely inactive and no eagles about. On my way back to the car I stopped off at the lower lookout and lo and behold both BE's were perched on a ledge. What might have been the female, was feeding on a dassie. She already had a very full crop. I watched them for about 15 minutes and then left. They were remarkably unperturbed by my presence. I had both dogs with me and we were quite close. It was great seeing them again. They both look in excellent condition".

photograph by Lucia Rodrigues

Adults feeding on a dassie in March 2007.

Table Mountain Black Eagles update  – Sept 2006.

Some of you may know, the pair that inhabit the Table Mountain end of the CP mountain chain was reduced to only one Black Eagle from about July 2005 to April 2006.
Happily a new female arrived on the scene and we once more have a pair flying around Devils Peak.We are not sure yet if they are breeding, so should anyone out that way notice them, please report your observations to Lucia Rodrigues  083 325 8881 or email  signet@mweb.co.za .

3. Read about Canute the Black Eagle – 2006.

photograph by Andrew Jenkins

Canute with his ID wing tag fitted.

2. Read about Bladen the Black Eagle – 2005.

 
photograph by Anthony van Zyl

"Bladen" with his big yellow feet.

Follow up to Bladen – October 2006.

26/10/2006 - Lucia received the news today from Field Ranger Eric Pieterse, that Bladen is in the Koggelberg Nature Reserve in the Kleinmond area.
Peter Steyn comments "Just shows how these juveniles wander. We ringed one at Bredasdorp in about 1960 and it as shot some months later near Mossel Bay. Exciting stuff Bladen".
Rob Simmons exclaims "Hooray for wing tags - and Bladen!"

27/07/2006 - Gilly Smith reports that her husband saw Bladen and he asked  to pass on the sighting. He and a friend had climbed to the mast on Constantiaberg and returned via the Elephants Eye. They were on their way down to the carpark in the afternoon when they saw him. There was nothing unusual about the behaviour - just soaring idly and being ineffectively bothered by another bird/ birds.

23/07/2006 - Anthony van Zyl and Andrew Jenkinson were out near the Cape Point Nature Reserve when they saw Bladen being harassed by a pair of Whitenecked Ravens, a Gymnogene and a Rock Kestrel.
Bladen seemed to cope well and is nearly 14 months old. He was spotted feeding on a dead porcupine road kill.

photographs by Anthony van Zyl

Bladen with his indentity wing tag                         Bladen being harassed by a pair of Whitenecked Ravens.

Lucia reports "Two days later, 25th July I saw Bladen again, flying towards the entrance to the Cape Point Nature Reserve and disappearing in the direction of Paulsberg.

1. Read about Argo the Black Eagle – 2004.

  
  photograph by Anthony van Zyl

"Argo" at about 2 weeks old.

Please contact Lucia Rodrigues with any Black Eagle sightings.

083 325 8881  and  email  signet@mweb.co.za