I wished I could fly...

On 5^th June I went for a “Sunday stroll” towards Tafelberg.  I was soon distracted by a pair of Black eagles which I could see perched further along the valley. I headed towards them and kept following after repeatedly seeing them. They perched together on a rocky outcrop and then mated. Soon after this I saw one flying away with a green sprig – no doubt headed towards it’s nest. I became completely side-tracked from my walk and ended up following the eagles, or heading in the direction I thought they had gone for what turned into a 10hour hike! But it ended well and I finally found their nest!! I noted in my book “nest found – seriously tall!”.

Today I revisited this nest (which in a straight line ironically only took me 30minutes to get to). The sun was behind the nest cliff and it was difficult to see it properly. There was no way of telling if there was a bird on the nest or not and two hours had passed before I saw an eagle. It flew in front of the nest but didn’t land and didn’t give anything away to me. I started to wish I could fly… just so I could see if there was a bird on the nest. 

Another hour passed before I saw another eagle. This time it flew across the valley, did a pendulum-like display fight, and then circled back to the nest cliff. Then I could see two eagles. Finally the one I was following darted towards the nest… but flew straight past it… and onto another smaller nest which I hadn’t yet noticed. The pair are incubating! I’ll stick to walking…