A male eagle named Thulane, that has been a resident at Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden for more than two decades has still not returned to his nest after disappearing two weeks ago. Despite this, his partner continues to look after their eaglet.
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He and his partner, Makatsa, are the latest pair of successful breeding Verreaux’s Eagles to find sanctuary in the botanical garden in the suburbs of Johannesburg.
Verreaux’s Eagle pairs have been breeding on the cliffs next to the Witpoortjie Falls since the 1940s- more than 40 years before the garden was officially established.
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In 1992, the Black Eagle Project (Black Eagle being an alternative name for the Verreaux’s Eagle) was launched to protect the ridge habitat which supports the breeding pairs.
The Black Eagle Project predicts that it is ‘highly unlikely’ that he will return and cannot confirm why he has disappeared.
Meanwhile, Makatsa has had to rear the chick, which hatched almost a week after he vanished, on her own. The second egg disappeared shortly after the first chick hatched.
Verreaux’s Eagle pairs do not normally leave the chick unattended before the age of 6 weeks, however she has had to leave the nest to find food for them both. Usually, the male would hunt and bring food back to the nest for his partner and chicks.
Her leaving the chick alone makes it vulnerable to predators and exposure to the cold.
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Makatsa has impressed onlookers by continuing to regularly bring prey for the chick and herself. She has also brought green vegetation to ‘sanitise’ the nest.
The Black Eagle Project has commended the Sugarbush Ridges and Volunteer Rangers for removing hundreds of snares in the area over the past few months. This stable environment has meant that Makatsa has enough prey nearby meaning she will not have to travel far.
Verreaux’s Eagle hunt mainly dassies (rock hyrax), but have been known to prey on monkeys, young baboons, antelope, squirrels, hares, other birds and reptiles.
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There were fears that she may decide to ‘abort’ by leaving the nest to find another mate.
These eagles mate for life, however it is not uncommon for them to search for a new mate if their partner disappears. The Black Eagle Project has said that Thulane appeared in 1998 after Quatele vanished. Makatsa replaced Emoyeni in 2016 after she disappeared. Emoyeni had replaced her mate twice after the first two disappeared.
Feature Image: Chris Jones/Black Eagle Project.
