Chirping with Kloof Conservancy – the Brown Snake Eagle

IN this week’s column, we feature the Brown Snake Eagle.

Also read: Chirping with Kloof Conservancy – Brimstone Canary

Description

The Brown Snake Eagle is a fairly large raptor, standing at 76cm tall, with a wingspan of up to 1.8m and a weight of 2kg. As with most raptors, it is challenging to describe their appearance! Most of their plumage is dark brown, as are the wings, while the flight feathers are whitish grey. They have a relatively short tail, which is barred brown and cream. Males and females are very similar and difficult to tell apart.

Distribution

The Brown Snake Eagle is found across most of sub-Saharan Africa, but in South Africa, it is restricted to the northern provinces as well as most of KwaZulu Natal. It is considered to be a resident species, but they are also known to occasionally move to new areas, sometimes up to 2 000km away!

Habitat

This is a species that prefers relatively wooded areas but can also be found on the edge of urban areas or near farmlands.

Feeding

This species feeds primarily on snakes and other reptiles. It is an aggressive hunter, even taking on Black Mambas and cobras. Their hunting technique is to drop at speed from a perch and smash the snake’s spine with their powerful talons. Occasionally, they bite off more than they can chew and get entangled in the coils of large snakes, such as Rock Pythons, and they have been known to be vulnerable to the venom from spitting snakes like the Mozambique Cobra.

Breeding

Although the experts have limited data, they consider the Brown Snake Eagle to be monogamous, ie, they pair for life. The nest is built by both adults and is usually well concealed in the canopy of a tall tree. The pair usually rear only one chick which will usually fledge after 109 days.

Predators and threats

The Brown Snake Eagle has a current IUCN listing of ‘Least Concern IUCN’, but a recent study published in the Authoritative Nature Journal predicted a 55% collapse in the population of this species over three generation spans. This decline is primarily due to habitat loss and impacts from human activities.

Local information

This is not a common bird in our area as we have many other raptors, all off which compete for space, but you can find it in Kloof Gorge and adjacent areas, such as Lower Molweni.

Interesting facts

The Brown Snake Eagle has heavily scaled legs which offer some protection from snake bites. They also have unusually large heads and a large gape which enables them to swallow very large snakes.