A juvenile African
Crowned Eagle was seen
and photographed by birders on the Aves North West Tour/ Safar/Adventure at Roodewal Forest,
Soutpansberg, on Friday 4th May2012.
African
Crowned Eagle
The African Crowned Eagle
- Stephanoaetus coronatus - is a very large, powerful, crested bird of
prey which is found in Africa south of the Sahara.
In South Africa
it is found in the Eastern parts, where there is suitable habitat. It inhabits
dense forests, heavily wooded hillsides, dense woodland and rocky outcrops
throughout its range. Owing to lack of suitable habitat, the eagle's range is
discontinuous. They are non-migratory and largely sedentary.
Description
It has dark grey
upperparts with rufous and white below; its belly and breast are heavily
mottled with black. This eagle has relatively short, broad and rounded wings
for added maneuverability in its environment. The rufous underwing coverts and
strongly barred white and black outer wings and tail are all diagnostic in
flight. The large crest and this bird's large size make the adult
near-unmistakable at close range. The legs are extremely powerful and the eagle
possesses formidably large, strong talons, used for killing and dismembering
prey. The female is larger than the male.
Call
Pairs are fairly
vocal in their territory – the call – “cheeep chereep chereep”.
Food
Its diet is
mostly mammalian, with primates being the most commonly taken prey. It will
also take hyraxes, duikers and other small antelope, but will hunt guineafowl
and domestic livestock when mammalian food sources are scarce. Pairs sometimes
hunt cooperatively, using a clever technique whereby one bird flies above the
canopy overhead of a monkey troop, eliciting alarm calls from them which
exposes their position. The eagle's mate then follows a short while later,
killing from behind any monkey unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open.
It usually strikes the skull or diaphragm of prey with its talons in a downward
motion, a movement powerful enough to kill instantly.
Breeding
The pair
collaborate in building a massive nest in a fork of a large forest tree. A nest
built from scratch may take several months to construct, however existing nests
are often repaired and re-used during successive breeding seasons.
Crowned Eagle
pairs breed once every two years. A single breeding cycle is approximately 500
days.
Breeding season /
egg laying is from July to May and normally 2 eggs are laid which are usually incubated
by the female for between 49 to 51 days. The chick is fed by both adults and
remains reliant on the parents for about 11 months.
Conservation Status – Least Concern
The Crowned Eagle
is fairly common in suitable habitat, though its numbers show decline in sync
with deforestation. It is far more common in protected areas and reserves than
elsewhere in its range, though is still recorded consistently outside of these
areas. They are Near-threatened in South Africa, largely due to
persecution by small stock farmers and destruction of forest habitats.
Birdwatching
Ask Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures
to create an Aves custom tour for
you or book on one of the following scheduled Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures: -
Aves Eastern Cape Birding
Tour / Safari /Adventure.
Aves Highlands / Tembe Birding Tour / Safari /
Adventure.
Aves KZN Birding
Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North East
Birding Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North West Birding Tour
/ Safari /Adventure.