Africa’s flying big five
27 July 2014 10:18 PM GMT
East Africa is best known for its ‘Safaris’: the Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater immediately spring to mind. But all those photographers (massive lenses, jackets with thousands of pockets etc.) are ‘shooting’ the wrong things. Of course Lions are great, but they sleep 23 hours in a typical day.
Elephants, as impressive as they are, only do one thing: they’re living lawnmowers – hardly the most exhilarating behaviour out there on the plains. Here’s a short run-down of the real highlights of the savannahs: our flying big five. Few sights in all of ornithology are as impressive as a Martial Eagle. A bold statement, but arguably true: a metre tall, a three-metre wingspan, and a rather intimidating mien. Everything tries to avoid these birds: rodents, guineafowl, hares... all the way up to adult Impalas; a clear indication of their power and appetite. They most often hunt from a high, shallow ‘stoop’, starting at over six kilometres from the target. Impact speeds are usually over 120 mph, and accompanied by a sound most often compared to a gunshot as their prey is blown over.
Give it a bit of time, and you’ll see that Vultures are some of the most attractive birds around, and some of the most useful. They’re the cleanup crew, and they are absolutely, perfectly evolved for this unenviable role. Huge, broad wings allow them to soar for hours on end, looking for carcasses, with scarcely a flap. Bare heads keep them clean. And this bird’s meat-cleaver of a bill makes him extremely valuable: you may think that Lappet-Faced Vultures are the guys that come in and open up the recently deceased. Quite the opposite: they wait. And wait. Until all that’s left is skin and bones. Then they tuck in, efficiently and meticulously disposing of the leftover sinew, bone, teeth, hooves and horns. Get up and close to them on your next safari, and the sound of them feeding will
astonish you.
You can tell immediately when there’s a Crowned Eagle nearby – the forest falls silent. Animals of every size would rather not attract this massive bird’s attention. Crowned Eagles only weigh six or seven kilos, but the power they wield is immense. Talons up to four inches long (the longest killing implement of any land based predator in Africa, Lions included), feet thicker than your wrists and eyesight that can spot a faint rustle in the foliage 250 metres away. All of this backed up by an intelligence rarely seen in birds, and a strong and silent flight. These birds have been known to kill antelopes weighing over 50 kilos, then dismember and devour them over the next few days. You wouldn’t want your kids to wander off into its territory alone!
Everyone knows and loves the African Fish Eagle: it might as well be the ‘Bird of Africa’. After having worked with them for five years, they’re incredibly close to my heart. Obvious, unmistakable and remarkably handsome, they’re a guaranteed sight on any permanent lake or large river in sub-Saharan Africa. Their calls, one of the most distinctive of all, start at dawn, end at dusk and never, ever leave you. You’re more than likely see them hunt: after spotting their potential prey, they swoop down, come in low over the water, and swing their feet forward at the very last millisecond, and snatch fish deftly off the water’s surface.
This last bird isn’t big, but it more than makes up for this shortcoming in speed. Few people have seen a Peregrine Falcon stoop, probably because it happens way too fast: officially up to 242 mph (yes, really). The target is usually approached from above and behind, and is often dead before it knows what happened, let alone getting time to react. A pair of Peregrines typically hunt from a favoured perch, every hour, even more frequently if they have a brood of hungry chicks back at their cliff nest. Pack a long and very fast lens! With all these magnificent and fascinating birds, glance up at the skies on your next trip and you’ll certainly see a few. If you’re lucky, you may even get ‘hooked’, and slowly forget about the Leopards, Lions and Elephants. I did, and I’ve never looked back.
Elephants, as impressive as they are, only do one thing: they’re living lawnmowers – hardly the most exhilarating behaviour out there on the plains. Here’s a short run-down of the real highlights of the savannahs: our flying big five. Few sights in all of ornithology are as impressive as a Martial Eagle. A bold statement, but arguably true: a metre tall, a three-metre wingspan, and a rather intimidating mien. Everything tries to avoid these birds: rodents, guineafowl, hares... all the way up to adult Impalas; a clear indication of their power and appetite. They most often hunt from a high, shallow ‘stoop’, starting at over six kilometres from the target. Impact speeds are usually over 120 mph, and accompanied by a sound most often compared to a gunshot as their prey is blown over.
Give it a bit of time, and you’ll see that Vultures are some of the most attractive birds around, and some of the most useful. They’re the cleanup crew, and they are absolutely, perfectly evolved for this unenviable role. Huge, broad wings allow them to soar for hours on end, looking for carcasses, with scarcely a flap. Bare heads keep them clean. And this bird’s meat-cleaver of a bill makes him extremely valuable: you may think that Lappet-Faced Vultures are the guys that come in and open up the recently deceased. Quite the opposite: they wait. And wait. Until all that’s left is skin and bones. Then they tuck in, efficiently and meticulously disposing of the leftover sinew, bone, teeth, hooves and horns. Get up and close to them on your next safari, and the sound of them feeding will
astonish you.
You can tell immediately when there’s a Crowned Eagle nearby – the forest falls silent. Animals of every size would rather not attract this massive bird’s attention. Crowned Eagles only weigh six or seven kilos, but the power they wield is immense. Talons up to four inches long (the longest killing implement of any land based predator in Africa, Lions included), feet thicker than your wrists and eyesight that can spot a faint rustle in the foliage 250 metres away. All of this backed up by an intelligence rarely seen in birds, and a strong and silent flight. These birds have been known to kill antelopes weighing over 50 kilos, then dismember and devour them over the next few days. You wouldn’t want your kids to wander off into its territory alone!
Everyone knows and loves the African Fish Eagle: it might as well be the ‘Bird of Africa’. After having worked with them for five years, they’re incredibly close to my heart. Obvious, unmistakable and remarkably handsome, they’re a guaranteed sight on any permanent lake or large river in sub-Saharan Africa. Their calls, one of the most distinctive of all, start at dawn, end at dusk and never, ever leave you. You’re more than likely see them hunt: after spotting their potential prey, they swoop down, come in low over the water, and swing their feet forward at the very last millisecond, and snatch fish deftly off the water’s surface.
This last bird isn’t big, but it more than makes up for this shortcoming in speed. Few people have seen a Peregrine Falcon stoop, probably because it happens way too fast: officially up to 242 mph (yes, really). The target is usually approached from above and behind, and is often dead before it knows what happened, let alone getting time to react. A pair of Peregrines typically hunt from a favoured perch, every hour, even more frequently if they have a brood of hungry chicks back at their cliff nest. Pack a long and very fast lens! With all these magnificent and fascinating birds, glance up at the skies on your next trip and you’ll certainly see a few. If you’re lucky, you may even get ‘hooked’, and slowly forget about the Leopards, Lions and Elephants. I did, and I’ve never looked back.
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