Makatsa has laid her first egg for this season
Despite not having a webcam directly focused on the new nest, the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans can confirm that Makatsa has laid her first egg.
After a number of weeks of speculation that followed after members of the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR) had observed behaviour that is typically exhibited when the eagles have laid an egg, chairman Gerald Draper has confirmed that an egg has been laid.
An earlier social media post by BEPR stated that they had “noticed on Friday [4 May] that Makatsa spent practically the whole day on the nest, leaving only for very short periods of time. The same pattern followed on Saturday [5 May] and Sunday [6 May].”
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According to Gerald, they now have photographic proof that the first egg has been laid.
“We have managed to get photos of the new egg, which means that everything is going according to plan for Makatsa and Thulane,” he said.
Gerald also stated that Makatsa and Thulane “are a pair who often tend to mate and lay their eggs later than the rest of the eagles in Gauteng.”
Now that the laying of the egg has been confirmed, the 44-day incubation process has begun.
They will continue monitoring the eagles’ behaviour and after doing their calculations, they plan to monitor the nest very intensely from the middle of June.
According to a social media post by BEPR, the very first sighting of prey being delivered to the nest will be a definite indication that the first chick had hatched.
According to Gerald, they are not able to move the webcam to the new nest until the chick has hatched and fledged.
“We cannot afford to disturb the process as everything needs to take its natural course. Only once the chick has fledged can we begin considering moving the webcam from the old, washed away nest to the new nest.”
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