Long-crested Eagle

Fascinating facts about the Long-crested Eagle

• Its home range can be tiny or vast, with males in KwaZulu-Natal occupying as little as 0.56 km² and females up to 15.08 km², yet some individuals wander 20 km from the centre of their range. In Mpumalanga the area expands to between 25 and 35 km², while in Zimbabwe it reaches 40 to 65 km². The mean distance travelled each day is only about 2 km because the eagle uses a sit-and-wait hunting style. This flexibility lets it track rodent hotspots across the landscape.
• Rodents make up almost the entire diet, accounting for up to 98 % of what it eats. In southern Africa it preys on greater cane rat, vlei rats, African marsh rat and four-striped grass mouse, but it will also take birds, frogs, lizards, invertebrates, fish and fruit when available. Its sit-and-wait hunting from a perch allows it to swoop on these small mammals efficiently.
• When suitable, it will take over another raptor's nest, often re-using a black sparrowhawk or lizard buzzard platform instead of building a new one. The nest is a stick platform with a bowl-shaped depression lined with green leaves, usually placed in the mid-canopy close to a tree trunk near the forest edge. By re-using an existing structure it saves construction time and keeps the nest in the preferred edge habitat.
• The long-crested eagle inhabits a wide altitude range, occurring from sea level right up to 3 000 m, although observers seldom see it above 2 000 m. It favours forest edges and moist woodland, especially where those habitats meet grassland, marsh, rivers or streams. It also uses drier woodlands, mixed farmland and even exotic pine or eucalyptus plantations.
• The species' global numbers are thought to be in the tens of thousands and are projected to rise. New patches of suitable habitat created by fragmentation are encouraging rodent populations, which form up to 98 % of the eagle's diet, thereby expanding its main food source. Because its primary prey is abundant, breeding can occur whenever food is plentiful, supporting population growth. Nevertheless, the bird remains listed as least-concern on the IUCN Red List.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Long-crested Eagle

As the long-crested eagle soars through the dappled canopy, its sleek, dark form slices effortlessly through the warm, golden light, its piercing gaze scanning the forest floor below for the slightest hint of movement. With wings outstretched, it rides the thermal currents with a gentle, almost languid ease, its long, flowing crest rippling in the breeze like a dark, silken banner. In this, its native realm of African woodland and savannah, the long-crested eagle reigns supreme, a master of stealth and patience, its very presence a testament to the wild beauty and untamed majesty of this ancient, sun-kissed land.

Long-crested Eagle photographed on Feravox

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