Help Selati protect its martial eagle breeding pair

Lindsey Jones from Selati said the project is aimed at raising funds that will aid in protecting martial eagles in the reserve. 

“We are raising funds to set up and acquire specialised camera recording equipment to monitor a breeding pair in real-time and also to protect their nesting site on Selati Game Reserve. 

“It is believed that this will be the first time a pair of breeding martial eagles will be recorded in a non-invasive way,” she said.

Jones said the martial eagle population is declining rapidly throughout its range in Africa and is now classified as endangered.

She said the current nest on the 28 000 ha Selati Game Reserve offers an excellent opportunity to document and research the breeding biology of this, Africa’s largest eagle.

“A martial eagle pair has successfully bred on Selati for a number of years.

“The purpose of placing a real-time camera at the nest is to document the martial eagles breeding biology including, behaviour, incubation, chick development and fledging, prey selection, and post-fledging dependence on the nest.

“Incidental nest observations have been recorded previously but thorough documentation of a breeding cycle from nest reconstruction to post-fledging has not been undertaken anywhere,” she said.

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She said a significant advantage of the technology to be used to collect images is that there will be no disturbance at the nest during the breeding/fledging period.

According to Jones, all images will be collected by a camera controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer programmed to send the images remotely by wi-fi.

She said the camera will be powered by a solar-charged battery which will not need to be visited for the duration of the breeding event.

She also said the nest is vulnerable to predation even though it is 24m up in a knob-thorn tree.

It will be necessary to protect the solar panels, battery, and computer equipment from possible damage by inquisitive elephants, rhinoceros, buffalo, lions, and the chick from leopards.

To prevent this, a perimeter electric fence around the tree is envisaged.

Christiaan Brink, raptor and large terrestrial bird project manager at BirdLife South Africa said, “BirdLife South Africa welcomes the Selati Wilderness Foundation’s plans to install a live-streaming camera on a martial eagle nest on their reserve.

“This project will help create awareness for the conservation plight of one of Africa’s most iconic eagles.

Given the recent up-listing of martial eagles to endangered, there is an urgent need for well-informed and effective conservation action.

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“The proposed camera can assist in this by providing the opportunity to gain new insights into the breeding biology and general ecology of this species.”

The martial eagle, also known as Polemaetus bellicosus, is a large powerful eagle, the females are considerably larger than the males.

These eagles can be identified by their dark backs, throat neck and head, contrasting with the white underbelly which is spotted.

They are the largest eagle in Africa.

Jones also told Herald that the images collected will be analysed and interpreted by specialists.

“In addition, the environmental students visiting the eco-training centre on the Selati reserve will be able to study the images during their training.

The results of the research will be made available through the Selati Wilderness Foundation NPC social media sites.”

For more information on how you can donate visit www.selatiwf.org or the Selati Wilderness Foundation on GivenGain.