Flight of the African Fish Eagle!
Ah! The world famous African bird. National bird of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Southern Sudan.
The Fish Eagle's reverberating call is featured in movies and in advertisements worldwide and this great hunter of the skies is a resident here in the apple valley.
I have seen him twice before, once seated in a tree and once in a distant flight and I thought that today was my day, as he was coming straight at me.
Please join me in tracking his flight.
I picked him up at about the 550 mark on my Canon zoom lens!
Yay! He straightened slightly and I thought that he would keep straight over me head!
This guy has a 2 meter wing span and it would be so great to catch his full size overhead.
Oh no! He banked towards my left at about the 350 mark on my lens!
I do manual tracking, meaning that I retract the zoom lens according to his approach in order to avoid blurring.
And here you can see that he went into a full turn.
Then he dived and was gone!
Gone yeah, but not from my memory. Our human eyes can see only 3 basic colors and the Fish Eagle can see 5 basic colors. This enables them to clearly see any hidden fish, or any small animal in hiding. With his razor sharp talons this guy can catch anything that equals him in weight. Small crocodiles, water birds and even monkeys do not stand a chance against this predator. I will have to hide our little dog Troy when he is around.
Two more amazing attacking features about these birds stand out for me. Should he catch a fish that is too heavy for him to lift, he will not let go and he enters the water swimming with one wing and dragging the fish along with one talon. The second thing is that if they have 3 babies, the fittest baby will kill the other two in the nest so that he can have all of the food that the parents bring.
All photos are my own and the information was gathered from;
https://animaltalk.co.za/10-things-about-the-fish-eagle/
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Wow! talk about sibling rivalry! Your photos are fabulous, as always!
@melinda010100 survival of the fittest ensure that they procreate and stay in an excellent condition Lady Melinda. Did you know that when a Fish Eagle is about that it means the water is safe for human consumption? Blessings!
I know...but that poor little brother and sister! 😯 that's cool about the water, but I think I would still want to be putting mine through filter!
Magnificent bird indeed. Two meter wingspan is quite something. I just love those colours under its wing when it banked towards the left.
Looks like you had fun and keep little Troy safe :)
@therneau since I told Marian about this, Troy is only allowed outside to do his ablutions under adult supervision Lol.
Great captures, when riding up high a mesmerizing sight to watch, trying get good photography, which you have accomplished @papilloncharity
Definitely keep Troy inside with predators above, friends in our neighbourhood lost a little dog exactly that way.
@joanstewart in the right place at the right time Lady Joan. Troy now lives in Fort Knox with Marian around as the guard of the portals. Her scream will put the Fish Eagle off little dogs for life Lol.