Dear Black Eagle Watcha,
...
Aggressive behaviour towards the juvenile commenced way too early this year in that the youngster had only been three weeks off the nest when on 5th October she commenced showing aggressive behaviour towards the adults and as Garth Heydenrych (BEPR Photographer) rightly put it...”Looks like the juvenile is chasing the adults out of her new territory!” That’s exactly what she was doing...telling the adults to go! The adult pair did not take this behaviour from the youngster too kindly by turning the tables swiftly and retaliated in true Verreaux’s eagle fashion showing her who the bosses were in this neck of the woods!
Fortunately the aggressive behaviour abated and after a week almost all was back to “normal” with occasional taunting noted by project observers when the adults just casually nudged the youngster in the right direction.
We must add that this juvenile is definitely different to all previous in that she is very mature for her age and where it can take four to five weeks for a fledgling to gain complete control of their flying and perching skills, this young lady mastered everything within half the time of her predecessors...quite phenomenal! Prey too is regularly hunted and brought back to one of the many feeding ledges within the greater nesting gorge vicinity. With the juvenile growing rapidly in posture and maintaining adequate weight, the consumption of prey is fairly frequent and of fair size. It is only during her last month within the garden periphery that feeding will become reduced and that she too will be flying further afield.
Project observers have noted that she is already visiting neighbourly residential areas, flying high overhead, keeping out of harm’s way and getting acquainted to being on her own. The adults most always know where she is and as the youngster is usually very noisy hence the fact that juveniles never accompany adults on hunting sorties.
Almost two months post fledging, it will be perfect if she can remain here for at least another month, but the way things are heading here in the garden, she may last another few weeks...time to keep our fingers and toes crossed!
We are living in a dangerous age. Human beings dominate nature, before they have learned to control themselves. -Albert Schweitzer I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the so-called "lower animals" versus the traits and dispositions of man. The result humiliates me. - Mark Twain
Kendi has extremely huge crop today (cropozilla ). It seems she is going to spend the night in the nest. She flew from the palm tree. Must be too heavy to stay on the branch.
Black Eagle Project Roodekrans The aggression of verreaux’s eagles towards their offspring exists because verreaux's eagles are extremely aggressive and territorial eagles. It is considered normal behavior for them to chase their offspring out of their territory about 9/10 weeks after the juvenile has fledged from the nest.
The aggression is not swift and continues for 3-4 weeks before the juvenile is actually chased out of the natal home range. The adults don’t harm their offspring in these aggressive attacks, but they certainly give them a good scare, especially in the beginning of the aggression. Later on the juveniles participate and even return the aggression towards the parents.
Interestingly the adults still bring prey for their offspring while the aggression period is in motion. You can imagine the confusion a juvenile must experience when being chased and attacked in the morning and then later seeing his parent bring a nice, juicy snack for him to feast on.
In my opinion a big part of this is life lessons or training for juvenile verreaux’s eagles, which they will need in order to survive as they live lives filled with aggression. One day these juveniles will have to be able to defend their own territories and be aggressive hunters in order to survive.
We are living in a dangerous age. Human beings dominate nature, before they have learned to control themselves. -Albert Schweitzer I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the so-called "lower animals" versus the traits and dispositions of man. The result humiliates me. - Mark Twain
Lately the eagle family spend the nights separately: parents on the rock and Kendi on the palm tree.
Last time I saw them together on November 21st. It seems, that Kendi tries to avoid parents due to their aggression.
For the short moment camera showed Kendi on the palm tree. Despite today's morning aggressions Kendi has full crop ( in the IR light picture is blurry).
Fortunately the adult eagle pair cut their offspring some slack in that her stay in the garden and surrounds has been prolonged to normal “staying-standard” of their usual 2½ - 3 month period. Currently (3rd December) she is 12 days shy of being three months off the nest, and if she can hang in until mid December, she will be in a perfect position to survive. Don’t get me wrong, two-and-a-half months are beautiful too, but three months gives her an additional edge.
Harassment has intensified during the last three weeks or so, which is normal behaviour as this is the crux of the behavioural lessons taught to their offspring. The only lesson that the juveniles are excluded from is hunting...by far the most valuable lesson of all and if the juvenile is unable to grasp this very quickly, will make or break any eagle...hence the mere 20-30% survival rate in their first year away from their natal home range.
However, the three-month period on the nest post hatching affords the chick / eaglet / juvenile ample time to familiarise herself with the prey that is brought to the nest by the adult eagles as she imprints on each item individually and will thus know what to hunt for. Instinct too plays an enormous roll and without it, no eagle will survive. The only prey that comes for free is a carcass and although juveniles will make full use of this, carcasses aren’t always safe in that it may be laced with poisons to trap and kill vermin such as jackal and caracal. It is important thus that she does not solely rely on dead meat as hunting your own fresh prey revitalizes the functioning of the eagle that will ensure strength and prolonged good health in order to survive.
Looking back on the 2015 breeding season, it was an interesting nine months in that the hatching period was “very long” being 49 days instead of the usual 44/45-day incubation period. It was clearly indicative too that the female assisted with the hatching process, which is generally unheard of. When the second chick hatched a day later, we thought that there might be a chance that both chicks could survive...alas...the second chick mysteriously disappeared overnight...suggesting that the adult female may have pushed the chick out of its comfort zone causing it to die of starvation and or exposure. We will never know exactly what caused the second chick’s demise.
Then if that was not a large pill to swallow...the juvenile managed to spend a solid 110 days on the nest instead of the usual 95–100 days for females...males fledge a little sooner, usually 90–95 days being a lighter in weight and smaller in overall size eagle.
We wish her all the best in her endeavours out there in the real and ruthless wild...promises of exhilarating thermals...ample prey in a variation of hyrax, guineafowl, rock rabbit, scrub hare and francolin...may the fruits of the loom be plentiful and that the eagle-gods will accompany her until she finds a territory of her own...a mate...and raise many eaglets – you go and all the best loved one...
Thank you, Mamicja, for this interesting article, I cross my fingers for Kendi, that she will the first year survive. After then, the chances will better.
Hi every one the adults brought a guineafowl back today and Kendi actually managed to rip the prey out of Emoyeni's talons while in flight, shees she is a naughty girl.
It seems Kendi has been well taught by her parents.
For the last few days I haven't seen or heard Kendi, so I presume she has left the natal gorge.
Fly free and high Kendi!!!
It's Kendi from egg to fledge.
It seems like Kendi has left the nesting site. She was last seen on Sunday afternoon 13 December 2015 by Johann Van Den Berg.
Regards
Ernest
BEPR
Bo van der Lecq She's still within the adults' natal home range...just no longer in the WSNBG. Leaving the territory may take another 3 weeks taking their very large 250 sq km home range into consideration.
). It seems she is going to spend the night in the nest. She flew from the palm tree. Must be too heavy to stay on the branch. 
