Mpumalanga's African Crowned Eagle Project / Bird Matters Project Profile

Garth Batchelor discusses the Mpumalanga's African Crowned Eagle Project. The Crowned Eagle is one of the largest Eagles in South Africa, (certainly one of the most powerful) which has been known to take the biggest prey of any Eagle in South Africa.

The live along the escarpment of Mpumalanga, occurring in forest areas. Very little is known about them. Throughout Africa their numbers are declining and they have just been declared a vulnerable species in South Africa, but currently the population is secure.

The Mpumalanga's African Crowned Eagle Project is trying to determine the number of nests along the escarpment and work out a strategy for conserving the population before it declines.

There are timber companies growing big forests in this area where the highest rainfall is about 1000mm's ... ideal for Eucalyptus and pine trees. The Eagles live largely in ravines in the plantations, which provide food and prey.

70% of their diet consists of antelope, mostly small Duiker, but they will even take prey up to the size of Bushbuck (20-30kg's) and so are formidable raptors.

They also occur in the bush veld where there are large trees along drainage lines, and there they feed mostly on Impala and in the mountainous areas, Klipspringer.

Fortunately the farmers in these areas are pretty comfortable on having these Eagles on the properties, and are mostly conserving the nest and the Eagles.

The biggest potential risk are emerging farmers, many of which are farming goats as they're easy animals to grow - but are also easy prey for the Crowned Eagles, especially the lambs. It's likely this issue will increase in the future.

This interview took place at Flock in Kruger 2016, the Birdlife South Africa AGM, which ran alongside the Learn About Birds Program, a combine Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology initiative.

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