Bulletin 326 - South Africa #3 - Part 2 - Hawks and Eagles; small mammals

Continued from Part 1

Now we have arrived at the eagles. The smallest is the 23" Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis). It is black with a long wispy crest. We saw this bird 4 times on the trip. This is a male with the white legs. The female has brown legs.

Long-crested Eagle - male

The next is the 23" Wahlberg's Eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi). Most of the birds are dark brown and it can be IDed by the flat head and slight crest.

Wahlberg's Eagle

5-10% are a lighter morph coloration. Again, the flat head and crest ID the species

Wahlberg's Eagle

The 26" Bataleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) is a brightly colored eagle with an extremely short tail, such that he looks tailless. This one had caught a Puff Adder snake and was devouring it 20 feet from the road while we watched. We saw this eagle many times on the trip. He is black with a brown back, white shoulders and red bill and legs.

Bataleur

Here is one perched in a tree. There is no tail visible.

Bataleur

The 28" African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) is the same genus as our Bald Eagle. He has a white head, chest and back. He is a stunningly beautiful, majestic bird. We saw this bird many times as well.

African Fish Eagle

Next in size is the 29" Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax). He is the same genus as our Golden Eagle. He is light reddish brown with darker wings.We saw several of these birds.

Tawny Eagle

There are a group of eagles called snake eagles and the only one I photographed was the 30" Brown Snake Eagle (Circaetus cinereus). He is dark brown with a large head. We saw several of these eagles as well. They have very thick scales on their legs to protect from snake bites.

Brown Snake Eagle

Most raptors take their prey to a perch to eat. In contrast this bird eats the snake aloft. Here is one with the tail of the snake hanging out of his mouth.

Brown Snake Eagle

The 32" Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) was one of my lucky birds. He was sitting in a dead tree right beside the road and allowed us to drive right under him. He is dark brown with white breast and belly flecked with brown spots. He also has a crest. This powerful eagle is able to take small antelope as well as smaller mammals, lizards etc. It is listed as uncommon, but we saw 3 times on the trip.

Martial Eagle

Here is a close up.

Martial Eagle

Lastly was another lucky find for me, the massive 38" Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus). He has a dark back, crest, and barred underparts. This was the only bird of this species we saw. Both these last 2 eagles were on the same day in Tembe Elephant Reserve. The guide had been there 100 times and never seen this eagle there previously. This eagle preys on small monkeys and antelope as well as reptiles. If you look closely, you can see on the branch, the back half of a monitor lizard that he is consuming.

Crowned Eagle

The Scrub Hare (Lepus saxatilis) is a large rabbit and one of 6 species in southern Africa. It has very long ears.

Scrub Hare

I also photographed 2 squirrel species. The Natal Red Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus palliatus) is a typical squirrel with bushy tail. It is gray on the top and reddish below.

Natal Red Bush Squirrel

The other is Smith's Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi). It is yellowish in color.

Smith's Bush Squirrel

I have put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 60 of the 254 species of hawks and eagles

I have photos of 3 of the 62 species of rabbits and hares

I have photos of 15 of the 282 species of squirrels

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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