Black Eagle juvenile determined to take flight

The morning of Wednesday, 26 August saw Makatsa and Mahlori’s juvenile Black Eagle taking advantage of the fairly windy conditions to do some wing exercises. It managed to hang about a metre in the air above the nest for a good 10 to 15 seconds before landing back on the nest.

According to photographer Shane Wilken, the young eagle is extremely active and flapping its wings while jumping up and down, clearly indicating that he or she wants to get out of the nest.

“I saw it making a big leap onto a small tree a couple of metres away from the nest. He landed pretty well before going back to the nest,” said Shane.

Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR) confirmed to the Northsider that this is just the beginning of a phase where the juvenile wants to get out of the nest.

In the past, the other young eagles had shown that when they were ready to fledge, there was a lot of jumping and landing activity to the nearby trees in an effort to practise.

BEPR believes that in the next few days or weeks, the juvenile should be able to get off the nest completely, eventually learning to fly and taking to the skies.

While the juvenile attempts to master the art of flying near the windy Crocodile River lined with all sorts of trees, members of the public and wildlife enthusiasts are reminded to submit their suggestions for the Name the Chick Competition 2020.

Entrants stand a chance of winning a R500 Clearwater Mall voucher, Burger Bistro Little Falls dinner voucher for two, Nadine van Zyl Photography photo shoot voucher, and a free one-year domain and website hosting from Synergetix.

As a result of a technical glitch on the website where names were supposed to be submitted, members of the community are advised to please send their details and name submissions to roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za.

*Update: On Monday, 31 August, Makatsa and Mahlori’s juvenile Black Eagle took its first flight