Expert shares insights on martial eagles in KNP

The cause of the decline in the population of martial eagles in the Kruger National Park (KNP) is unknown. He was speaking at an information session hosted by Nature on Tap at The Thirsty Giraffe. They told the audience that following a successful tracking study, camera traps were installed at nests to remotely monitor the eagles during the breeding season. “I did my study in 2022, so it has been a year and a half since my fieldwork. I spent the whole of last year writing it up and managed to submit it in February,” he says.

The martial eagle is the largest African eagle, and they are known to be territorial. “Generally, they lay one egg every two years, but it depends on the area. In 2015 there were roughly 800 pairs in South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland,” he says. According to him, an update on the population is expected at the end of this year.

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He says several issues are threatening the sustainable population, including habitat loss because of the loss of trees due to the need for wood used for daily life. “Other threats include the muti trade, electrocution and collisions with powerlines and infrastructure.” He says of the 136 nests in the KNP, only 24 were active. “It took a lot of walking to empty nests, occasionally I would find a nest just driving around.

“They like to nest in knobthorns, leadwood, marula, mopani, and jackalberry trees.” He says he found that there were a lot of juveniles. “It can take five years for a juvenile to reach full sexual maturity. “A bird that makes it to two years is fully capable of hunting and surviving by itself making it possible to hold up its territory.” He says that mature birds are however more successful in producing chicks, and it could take up to two to three years for the juveniles to eventually start breeding.