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Karoo National Park:

(shocking pics I know but the best I could do)

We had quite a few good sightings at Karoo. This pair nests at Rooivalle lookout and we found if we got there just at sunrise we saw them in the area before they flew off for the day.

Stunning pics DB, the last time I was up Table Mountain, I saw a pair soaring 20 metres from the top.

Play spot the eagle.

I also saw one yesterday from our cottage in Betty's Bay

My son went up TM today and saw the eagles resting on top of the mountain. As he approached they hopped down to a ledge out of sight.

Out of sight!

I have this shot from Walter Sisloo Botanical Garden in Joburg.
female black eagle being chased by a pied crow.

http://www.pbase.com/paulbright/image/69961468

Took Mrs BB for a breakfast picnic on TM road this woman's day morning and we saw a Verreaux's eagle soaring from below us up into the area above the saddle. It was too quick and far for a pic. Sorry.

Saw and heard one calling this weekend at the Confluence viewing deck in Mapungubwe.

Saw my first one ever two weeks ago yesterday on the Hazyview-Graskop road.

Really majestic!

(Must say, I haven't seen a dassie (hyrax) in Kruger for a long time!)

Saw two while staying at Mapungubwe(Loekwe).

Saw a juvenile soaring above Nyala loop on Sunday (23/09/2007)

Also saw 2 adults between the end of the Nyala loop and Lanner Gorge in January 2007 when we did the Nyalaland trail.

Sorry Andy. :wink:

We also saw a pair at their nest in the Levuvhu Gorge which is a bit further west, during the same trail. Could be that we saw the same birds the next day at Lanner Gorge.
The guides did mention however that they knew of a few nesting pairs. Think they mentioned 3 or 4 sites in that area if I remember correctly.

I normally follow the cycles of the Verreaux eagles of the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens carefully.
This first pic is from the webcam,( before it was stolen)
The second egg apparently did not hatch this year.
Second pic was taken on Friday 29 Aug, of the chick. Which is quite big already. It should be taking its maiden flight tomorrow and by 17 Nov it should leave the area.
The whole time I was there on Friday, I only once saw the father circling above, never near the nest.

The next generation there, and a question:

Landing is hard when you have thermals, several tries needed:

And now the question. Observe these three photos:

That's the passing of a gift, which is part of the mating ritual. Now they have a juvenile, just getting to find its wings, is this just a friendly gesture, or are they planning the next generation again?

Interesting article found in Custos, March 1989, discussing the Karoo NP.

"Both Eagle and Dassie can have a profound effect on the farming practices of man. Black eagles have a reputation amongst farmers for killing lambs and have been heavily persecuted. Five thousand bounties have been paid out between 1933 and 1955 for the destruction of the eagles in the Cape.

Dassies meanwhile can build up to such enormous numbers on the farm that they remove much of the vegetation that farmers need for their sheep. Black eagles are still being persecuted in the Karoo. I visited one farm near Victoria West in 1984 where predator eradication had been very intense. The owner of this farm actually had to move his sheep out because the dassies had built up to such an extent that they had consumed almost all the available food.

If the eagles are removed, then so are the chain that link the dassies to the rocks and they are able to to increase much faster and invade new habitat, thereby threatening the food supply. If dassies are allowed to increase exponentionally like in the Karoo where rains are followed by long droughts, then they quickly outgrow their own food resources and epidemics will precede major crashes in the population. Predators help by stabilising this relationship between dassies and the vegetation.

This is the ecological value of eagles but what price can you put on the easthetic value of being able to watch and marvel at eagles soaring over the mountains of the Karoo.

I also know that Melville Koppies was advised not to introduce dassies as they'd clean out the vegetation there.