Bateleur Eagle: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Eagles · day 7 of 7

Five facts

1. Stretch out a bateleur's wings and they measure 2.9 times the bird's length from beak to tail.
2. Bateleurs may stay airborne for up to 80% of daylight hours, and some have been reported covering 300-500 km in a day.
3. Bateleurs sometimes pirate food from other raptors in mid-air, even attacking vultures and larger eagles.
4. Bateleurs often wade into water for a bath, then open their wings to sunbathe.
5. Bateleurs usually build a small but solid nest of sticks in a big tree, and lay just one egg.

The quiz

1. How does a bateleur's wingspan compare with its body length?

• 2.9 times its total length (correct)
• The same length
• Half its total length
• 10 times its total length

Its wingspan is 2.9 times its length from beak to tail.

2. How much of daylight may a bateleur spend on the wing?

• Up to 5%
• Up to 80% (correct)
• Up to 20%
• Up to 100%

Bateleurs can be airborne for up to 80% of daylight hours.

3. What do bateleurs sometimes do to other raptors?

• Share their nests
• Teach them to hunt
• Follow them south
• Steal their food in mid-air (correct)

They sometimes pirate food from other raptors in mid-air.

4. What does a bateleur do after bathing?

• Opens its wings to sunbathe (correct)
• Rolls in dust
• Preens in a tree hole
• Dives for fish

After a bath it opens its wings to sunbathe.

5. How many eggs do bateleurs lay?

• Two eggs
• Four eggs
• Only a single egg (correct)
• A dozen eggs

Bateleurs lay only a single egg.

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