About the Author

James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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30 Comments

on What Bird is This?

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It’s a Kiwi bird dressed up for Halloween 🙂

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This is a red tailed hawk

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Juvenile Wahlberg’s Eagle?

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My guess is it’s juv Wahlberg’s Eagle, seems a little easy though…

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Juvenile African Hawk Eagle

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juvenile tawny eagle

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Juvenile Tawny or Wahlbergs, great pics, will do some more research.

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Juvenille black chested snake eagle?

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James Tyrell thought it was an adult House Sparrow

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Good one Adam !!!

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Juv African Hawk Eagle

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Two long minutes well it has to be a Euclidean Geometric Juvenile then ! (do I get spelling respect for Euclidean??)

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I agree with Brian, reckon it’s a juvenile African Hawk Eagle. Keep up the great blog!

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That is a beautiful brown bird in a tree?

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Juvenile African Hawk-Eagle.

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I suggest it is an African Hawk Eagle

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http://www.mangoverde.com/wbg/picpages/pic30-217-5.html

African Hawk Eagle jr. 🙂

Iren

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Immature African Hawk-eagle

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I think it is a Tawny Eagle.

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GORGEOUS!

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Osprey???

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May be Giant Eagle Owl or Brown Snake Eagle?

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Hi James, not sure time of year correct but juvenile Steppe Eagle? Not sure it’s juvenile Brown Snake Eagle head might be too small? (learned that from James last week …… See James I was listening) Need my Sasol book!!

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Well, nothing to loose – my guess is Booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus).

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awwww Raisa too my guess!

If it isn’t the African Hawk Eagle I would guess the Booted Eagle.

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SOOOOOOOOOO….what is it? 🙂
Interested to know who won!

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This is certainly the elusive Mozam bird…recognizable by it’s distinctive Mozam-beak. 🙂

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A brown snake eagle? Think it’s about time you put us all out of our misery!!

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The conclusion of the Londolozi Ranging Team is that the bird is a juvenile African Hawk Eagle. Refer to Sasol’s book “Birds of Prey of Africa and its Islands” for a decent picture of the colour scheme of a young Hawk Eagle and one will see an almost identical one to the bird in the above photos. Given that a pair of adult African Hawk Eagles frequents the area in which the photo was taken, we can conclude that this was one of their offspring. A young hawk eagle was seen in the vicinity not too long after by Ranger Tom Imrie, with plumage far more like that of the adult, so it was most likely the same bird, just further along in it’s development.
The first photo in which the bird is facing the camera is misleading, as the bird does resemble a Wahlberg’s Eagle in posture and feathering. However, the apparent crest that the eagle has in this photo was simply a result of it puffing itself up for warmth on the chilly winter’s morning on which we found it. Winter was also another clue as to the birds identity, as we saw it long after the migratory Wahlberg’s Eagles had all finished breeding and returned North.

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Thanks all…it is a lovely bird and hope it finds a mate and stays in the area!

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