Southern Pale chanting goshawk (Melierax canorus); Botswana...
Pale chanting goshawks can be found throughout their range in arid habitats with less than 75 cm of rainfall per year. These habitats include the Namib Desert and other dry woodland, shrubland, and grassland areas. Pale chanting goshawks are often seen perching on trees and poles for power lines near the roads....
It sits upright on its long legs when perched on a tree. It is often seen walking about on the ground. It can run very fast when pursuing a prey. But it also hunts from a perch. When prey is selected, it dives and runs after it. It also performs agile aerial chases after birds or hares running on the ground.
It is found singly or in pairs. Pairs have a well-defined territory and usually stay in and around the same group of trees. When breeding season starts, the male performs some displays. It perches on the top of a tall tree and utters its melodious call, often for hours. Both mates can soar together, making circles at about 200 to 300 feet in the sky. They also perform an undulating flight display while calling.
Immature tawny eagle (Aquila rapax). KwaZulu_Natal. It breeds in most of Africa, both north and south of the Sahara Desert, and across tropical southwestern Asia to India. It is a resident breeder which lays one to three eggs in a stick nest in a tree or crag or on the ground. Throughout its range, it favours open dry habitats such as desert, semi-desert, steppes, or savannah plains. Apologies we did not see an adult and this was at a long distance !
Yellow-throated Longclaw (Macronyx croceus). KwaZulu-Natal. It mainly eats insects and other invertebrates, doing most of its foraging on the ground, plucking food from grass and occasionally hawking prey aerially.
Monogamous territorial solitary nester, with males performing an aerial display in which they slowly fly in a circle with the tail spread. The nest is built by the female, consisting of a thick-walled cup of coarse grass blades and stems, lined with fine grass and rootlets.
Martial Eagle (Polemaetus Bellicosus). KwaZulu-Natal. They are the largest of the African eagles and incredibly powerful, capable of knocking an adult man off his feet. They reputedly have enough power in one foot to break a man's arm. The Martial eagle weighs in at almost 14 pounds (6.5 Kg.) and has a wingspan of about 6 feet 4 inches. It is about 32 inches long....
Food varies in the area that they live, varying from quite large birds, to mammals, smaller of the cat families and jackals. They build nests in the highest of trees using sticks, and where they have a good lookout. They often use the same nest for several years. The female only lays one to two eggs and generally, they only breed once every two years. The average age of a bird is thought to be around 14, but one banded bird was aged 25.
They could soon be on the endangered list. Martial Eagle sightings have dropped by as much as 60% since the late 1980s.
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