Spreading their wings: monitoring crowned eagles in the Garden Route
Crowned eagles are a species of special concern because limited available habitat and slow reproductive rates make them sensitive to risks. Nevertheless, monitoring has shown that this species is reproducing successfully in the Garden Route
An adult crowned eagle taking off. The crowned eagle may not be the biggest but is one of the most powerful eagles in Africa (Photo: Mike Bridgeford).
African crowned eagles, also known as the leopard of the sky, are large birds of prey found only in Africa and top predators of forest habitats. Considered a Species of Special Concern, they are listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List Assessment in South Africa, Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho because of the decline in the population. The natural forests in the Garden Route form the largest indigenous forest complex in southern Africa, which also represents part of the crowned eagle’s southernmost range.
Monitoring of crowned eagle in the Garden Route was initiated in the 1980s when the then Forestry Branch of the Department of Environment Affairs conducted a survey of crowned eagle nests on State Forest land. Over time, SANParks, working closely with CapeNature, have found a total of eight nests in the Garden Route. Breeding activity, however, was poor and by 1999 only two of these nests had consistent signs of activity, with the remainder being inactive. By 2008, none of the historical nests were being used and all appeared to have been abandoned, which was confirmed in 2015 and 2016 when these nests were re-visited. Monitoring effort has since been better formalised and upscaled with the clear aims of looking at the birds’ population status (how many breeding pairs occur in the region), breeding success (are pairs able to successfully breed) and diet (what species are they feeding on).
Major efforts have been made towards building a wide network of stakeholders within the Garden Route to help in the search, achieved through training workshops, presentations and development of chat groups to reporting sightings. Efforts paid off when new active nests were discovered in 2016, 2018 and a third in 2021. A fire affected one of the nest sites in 2018, but this area has recovered well and the breeding pair still maintains their territory. Excitingly, two nests have successfully raised a chick in the 2021-22 breeding season.
Sightings received from various sources have identified at least 10 areas in the Garden Route that could potentially still maintain crowned eagle pairs. This will guide our search for new nests as part of the ongoing monitoring programme.
Crowned eagle chick in December 2021 (top left) and March 2022 (top right). Collecting bones under nesting trees gives an idea of what crowned eagles eat. Here is an example of fresh remains found during one visit, which included monkey, dassie and small antelope remains. A large amount of prey remains have been collected from under old and new nests and will be sorted and identified with the assistance of specialists (Photos: Sally Adam and Melanie de Morney).
This article was written by Melanie de Morney, Lizette Moolman, Wessel Vermeulen and Joshua Kleyn and originally published in the 2022/2023 Research Report.
