Member Murmurings A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN AFRICAN FISH EAGLE

My wife Jane and I now live in Forest Village, Brettenwood Coastal Estate, Sheffield Beach as OAP’s. Our house overlooks Kestrel Lake which has an island which used to have a huge dead tree on the island. Over a period of three consecutive years we were privileged to have regular visits from a pair of African Fish Eagle and even sometimes their offspring. I was able to get many sequences of these birds hunting fish from their favoured perch on the dead tree. Many of the fish were 3kg+ and too heavy to fly off with so the birds would swim the monster to shore and then kill and eat it.

Sadly the dead tree toppled in extreme winds in July 2021 However since then I’ve personally undertaken a project to create a sustainable hunting area with perches and habitat down the valley to the coast. This entails working from the adjoining Elaleni Estate in the North, through Brettenwood, Dunkirk and Simbithi Estates as far as Zimbali in the South. Unfortunately Covid did stall progress on the project but we are making ground trying to catch up. However, at 71 I find we run out of steam much quicker than we used to. Since Covid, I have designed and organised the erection of two African Fish Eagle perches on Kestrel Lake; one in March 2022 and the second in February 2023. We funded the construction of the perches via donations from the residents on the estate.

To date we’ve had many species use the perches including Goliath Heron, Grey Heron, Great White Egret, White-breasted and Common Cormorant and Darters. Sadly no

African Fish Eagles as yet but we often hear them circling the estate and I’m sure that sooner or later we’ll have them back fishing here.

I include below a personal account about the day in the life of one of the African Fish Eagle we had the priviledge of observing over the three year period prior to 2019.

When I first thought of using the cliche “A DAY IN THE LIFE” as the title for this short article about an African Fish Eagle, I was immediately reminded of the Beatles song with the same title - “A DAY IN THE LIFE”. This Lennon-McCartney composition is widely regarded as one of their best.

“Woke up, fell out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup, and looking up I noticed I was late. Found my coat and grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat”.

Pace, pressure and stress is still an ongoing characteristic of our urban human life. However life in the wild is full of trials and tribulations too. It took this African Fish Eagle nearly 4 hours of patient waiting, supreme physical exertion, one failed hunt and a second monumental effort to catch her well-earned brunch. Then she was relaxed enough to enjoy her meal here despite the noise of cars, trucks, angle-grinders and weed-eaters around her. WE ARE SO VERY FORTUNATE TO LIVE ON AN ESTATE THAT HAS AN ENVIRONMENT THAT BOTH ATTRACTS AND SUSTAINS SUCH WILD LIFE.

This beauty arrived at Kestrel at tucked in. She uses her legs to steer and control her trajectory, speed and direction. She is hurtling downwards onto her prey. Her speed in free-fall is about 120km/hr. Still absolutely focussed on her target she begins to open her wings to slow down. She prepares for the final deadly swoop down onto her prey.

It was a very windy day and she perched on top of the dead tree high up and fully exposed. The strong winds ruffled her feathers and gave this eagle a regal tiara crown.

She perched patiently scanning the water below. She had to hang on to her perch and was very often lifted up by the strong gusts of wind pumping down the valley. After perching for 40 minutes she suddenly bobbed her head up and down, focussed intently on the water at the northern end of Kestrel and took off into the wind.

With powerful wing beats she flew directly to the top of the Litchi tree on the west bank. She perched for a while, her gaze still focussed on the water below.

She focussed intently, eyes riveted on movement in the water directly below. After a couple of minutes she took off again and began to circle the water.

Whilst circling Kestrel Lake she began climbing ever higher. All the while she watched the water below.

She starts to spread her wings and keeps them angled forward and down. She trails her legs to hold her angle of decline, direction and speed. Her head & neck are thrust forward. She holds her wings and tail parallel with the angle of her dive. She does this to minimise wind resistance and to silence her approach. Her legs and body are beginning to drop water below. Then she folded her

There was a loud splash as she hit the water. Then silence. I waited to see her fly back to her perch with her catch. But she had missed her target. She returned to her perch. I’ve not seen an African Fish Eagle miss a catch before. After her failed attempt she perched right on top of the dead tree but then dropped down to a lower branch to get out of the strong wind. All the while she had to hold on tightly. When the wind gusted she adjusted her balance with her wings and grip continuously using up precious energy.

After perching and patiently scanning the water for another hour she suddenly took off and dived straight down to strike. This time she was successful so she began to “swim” for the bank. She used her wings in a “butterfly” stroke all the while holding on to her prey which was struggling violently to get free. on her prey below. With the steep angle of her dive and her position in the sky her shadow is well away from the water. She is unseen by her prey. She dives head and neck straining forward, wings back and tightly

Pulling herself out of the water with her left leg and flapping her wings she managed to drag the powerful flapping and struggling fish through the water lilies at the waters edge and onto dry land.

She had caught a huge Grass Carp (unfortunately an alien species) in the middle of the dam. When an African Fish Eagle catches a fish it will do so using only one leg and talon allowing the bird to fly off with the prey and land on a perch using the free leg and talon to do so. Fish up to 1kg are caught in this manner. However at about 3,5 kg this fish was much too large for her to lift and fly off with this deadly grip when she has killed her prey and is ready to feed.

It had taken a monumental effort to swim her prize to shore and drag it out onto dry land. She rested briefly to summons her remaining strength and get the flapping fish away from the water. Then she faced a 300mm high step up onto the grass at the high water mark. Still tightly clutching her prey in her right talon she performed a macabre dance. A hop-flap, skipflap, step-flap, repeat-flap up and away from the water looking for a secure place to feed. Imagine holding and lifting a person who is the same weight as yourself with one hand, hopping up a vertical step one third of your own height and all the while your captive is struggling violently to get free. The power to weight ratio of these raptors is truly remarkable.

She continued her dance routine hop-flap, skip-flap, step-flap and repeat-flap further along the bank. Then feeling secure she huddled defensively over her catch and scanned all the way around her to check for any threats. Still grasping her prize in her right talon she waited until the fish finally stopped gasping and struggling. Then she huddled a while before feeding. Meanwhile weed- eaters and angle grinders scream from the sites nearby. Her prey is as long as she is. At about 3,5kg it weighs more than she does. She has caught, over- powered and killed it in about 8 minutes. Heavyweight boxers traditionally fight 12 rounds of 3 minutes each with 1 minute’s rest in between. With the wind gusting strongly, she used her wings to maintain her balance. Her left leg and talon firmly anchored her to the grass. Still her right talon is locked into her prey as she begins to open the soft underbelly. She fought on her own for 8 minutes nonstop with no helpers in her corner to assist her. No bell sounded to allow her to rest. This is an ongoing and imperative battle for survival which she must undergo at least once a week to sustain just herself. If she has a chick to feed then she’ll have to hunt every 2 days or so to sustain both of them. She arrived at 08h50 and waited in high winds with patience and determination. Her first failed attempt was followed by a second energy sapping hunt almost four hours later. She fed for an hour then returned to her perch to rest and preen. She flew off at 4pm over seven hours after her arrival.

Text and Photos

Nic Presland