Success

Remember that lucky eagle which was rehabilitated and released? (Link)

Hank Chalmers of Eagle Encounters releasing the eagle

I was watching a nest in the Sandveld on Monday when I noticed that the male had a hole in his tail feathers – in fact after a while of watching I can happily confirm that it was the same bird! A brief history of this pair: they did not breed last year but started to make a new nest. Then in February this year the male was nearly lost, however returned to his territory on release and the pair are now incubating in their newly built nest. I was thrilled to be able to make a call to Eagle encounters to let them know a story of their success.

Five months later, same eagle; free, wild and breeding!

I visited 15 nests during this latest trip to the Sandveld. In total I found 8 incubating pairs (up from 2 just 3 weeks ago). The eagles were absent from 3 of the nests which were used last year, while eagles were present but not yet incubating at the remaining sites.