Power Pack Martial Eagle

Dear followers, I hope you all are safe and doing fine. Please take due care and ensure the safety of your loved ones from this dangerous virus. With lockdown situation the condition has reversed, I mean now birds, animals are enjoying freedom, and we are under house arrest.

This situation is a revelation for the whole world; it is learning for all of us to open our eyes toward the destruction of Mother Nature, which includes wetlands, wildlife, forest, etc; this is an alarm bell, if not now than never. We are facing COVID now and god knows what our next generation will have to face, so it is better that we understand and respect and preserve our resources for our upcoming generation. 

Now let me talk about today’s topic, I am missing my forest visits and hence I jumped into all my old visits and while going through Kenya album I notice this power-packed bird and realized that I have not yet updated you with this super powerful eagle so today let us meet Powerhouse “Martial Eagle” and rejuvenate old memories.  

Magnificent & majestic “Martial”

First time I saw this majestic eagle at Masai Mara, the charm of this bird was just unmatched, it was sitting on perch in its typical style. We got mesmerized due to Eagle’s aggressive eyes, huge wingspan, and incredibly powerful long and sharp talons. It was the right time to capture the frame and enjoy the behavior of this killer bird. We were lucky to get at least 15 minutes which itself is recorded a long time that such rare quality bird can offer and that is too with flying shots. 

Let me write Saurabh’s favorite line from a book named Vapurza, this perfectly defines the power of this killer bird. 

"Wings of an eagle could probably be tied up to a pigeon, but craziness to Soar higher has to be in the blood because the passion for Sky can never be borrowed!”

Now you know why this bird is so special and why we are mad about it, so let's go little dip into its qualities in the next section.

Remarkable facts

Martial eagles are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN list 

That means they are under threat of extinction. Farmers readily shoot martial eagles as they can swoop down and kill their livestock, especially newborn cows

They are Africa’s largest eagle with a wingspan of 2.6 meters

They are also the fifth heaviest eagle on the planet

These eagles can spot prey from five kilometers away!

Their eyesight is over three times more acute than our own. They soar high above other birds of prey, using this incredible eyesight to spot a potential meal

They hunt silently and secretively

Martial eagles spend most of their day soaring on thermals. After a while, they blend into the sky. They don’t even flap their wings, but glide and glide high in the sky

Incredible acceleration when hunting from on high - Speed is their secret weapon

They are relatively unique in that they stoop from high in the sky. One tactic they have is to descend at great speeds, angling their approach to land directly on top of their prey

They kill using elongated hind toe-claws

Their incredibly long and sharp talons are capable of killing small prey instantaneously

Birds, mammals and reptiles are all on the menu

They are not too picky. One study showed that martial eagles in Kruger National Park fed on other birds 45% of the time, especially water birds like herons and storks. Monitor lizards and venomous snakes are favorite meals. Martial eagles will also hunt predatory cats such as jackals

Martial eagle pairs have an incredible home range

Pairs patrol large territories and will not tolerate the presence of other birds of prey. The size of their territory depends on the food that is available. A range will be 150 square kilometers on average, but it may be more than 1000 square kilometers

Martial eagles only lay one egg every two years

Slow reproduction is one of the reasons these birds are endangered. While other eagles will produce offspring every year, martial eagles rarely breed more than once every two years. This the erratic pattern makes them a very unproductive bird and ultimately means that when a martial eagle is poached or hunted, it is hard to replace

I am sure you will agree with me that this bird is actually different in all aspects from other birds, the power, the speed, the reproduction pattern anything for that matter is just unique. Now I would request you to visit the DSLR section to enjoy the pictorial view of this bird. 

Learning of the day

State Bird of Gujarat - Greater flamingo

Refer details here https://btwildart.blogspot.com/2018/03/beautifulflamingo-i-insist-readers-to.html

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section