After a series of sad events at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden, the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR) can now confirm that the 53-day-old eaglet was definitely killed by the new male.
The new eagle arrived at the Botanical Gardens on Saturday 13 July to join the female eagle, Makatsa.
BEPR Chairman, Gerald Draper said, “At the time of our previous announcement, it was felt that there was not sufficient evidence based on the facts we had at hand, to make this a definitive conclusion.”
Read the initial article here:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/301987/sad-news-makatsas-chick/
BEPR spent the past week speaking to photographers and monitors on duty, and studying various photographs, and compiled the following evidence:
• On Sunday, 4 August, photographs were taken from the surrounding ridges, which confirmed that the eaglet was alive, well, and feeding on the nest.
• This could not be confirmed by monitors on duty as the angle of the observation site makes it difficult to see right into the nest.
• The BEPR has a clear photograph showing one of the adults grasping the eaglet and flying off the nest with it in its talons.
• After zooming in on the adult’s underwing and comparing it to other recent photographs of the male and female, the BEPR now has irrefutable evidence that it was the new male that killed the eaglet.
• The eaglet was then taken to the spot where some of its remains were recovered, and the BEPR also now has eye-witness accounts of him feeding on the carcass.
Also Read:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/302044/makatsas-chick-has-died/
• Thulane, the male parent eagle, disappeared from the Garden on 8 June. The chick hatched on 13 June, leaving Makatsa to raise it on her own.
The new male eagle arrived at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden on 13 July, to much excitement. He was seen as a symbol of hope for the future of the eagles, but nature proved to be what it is as the new male killed the eaglet on 4 August.
The BEPR will continue to monitor the situation and communicate any other developments as they unfold.
