“Came across a White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) snatching a frog from the surface of a pond at Bt Panjang area on 10th June 2008,” wrote Eddy Lee Kam Pang (above). This is a sequence to his encounter two months earlier with a sea-eagle catching a rat in a monsoon drain.

“This was my first time seeing such an action. A frog is surely not a regular prey item for this bird. Its usual diet consists mostly fishes, though I had seen this bird taking a rat previously in the same area.

“Was there a shortage of food source such as fish that drived this bird into hunting something else or was it purely by chance that the eagle spotted its easy target, need to be seen.

“The frog must had taken great risk swimming in the pond as there were other aquatc predators around, predators such as the Toman fish and Water Monitors formed part of the residents in the area as well.

“Whatever it was, we can safely add one more prey item to the eagle’s food source list.”

And as far as catching a rat is concerned, there was also a May 2006 post detailing the sea-eagle catching the rodent in the sea off the coast in Changi.

Dave Culley recently sent images of the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) nesting in his garden in Cheshire, England. He has been monitoring the pair for some time now. These images here are of the 2008 nesting.

The brood of five chicks is seen above at 12 days old. The other image (below) shows the female sheltering the chicks from the rain.

The female is just starting to hunt with the male, now that the chicks are older. Prior to this the male was hunting, bringing food to feed the female and the chicks.

The male is seen with his prey, preening himself after a bout of hunting (above).

Check out Dave’s webpage HERE.

Adeline Chia was taking the Southern Ridge walk in Singapore one day in June 2008 with a few friends…

“We were out for the Southern Ridges walk. We started from Habourfront, and was going towards the Henderson waves bridge where we stopped to see the open view of HDB estate before the bridge. Someone then pointed out a large black raptor to us, and we say that it was indeed very dark, and was perching on a large branch of a tree a distance away feeding on what I was told looked like a squirrel. It fed for quite some time and even called out a few times in the midst of feeding.

“My boyfriend took some shots of it, but as we only have a point and shoot camera it was of course not crystal clear with zoom. We had to continue our journey after 10 minutes or so and it was still feeding when we left.

“I searched through a few websites and came across your posting. on the pale and dark morph of the Changeable Hawk Eagle and it really looked like the dark morph of that eagle. But as I’m not a bird watcher it’s just very a casual guess.

“I’m wondering if someone here can help me to ID it and if I could attach a photo for this purpose.”

Adeline added: “The bird was spotted after Mount Faber, at an area with an open view of HDB flats slightly before entering the Henderson Waves Bridge.”

The images were sent to our bird specialist R Subaraj and his reply: “Its an eagle. Could be a dark phased Changeable Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus cirrhatus), though I cannot make out a crest. Appears more like a Black Eagle but that should not be in Singapore (sedentary resident in Malaysian highlands). The white bits are probably just moult or feathers that are out of place.”

The African Fish-eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) is confined to Africa and seen near most waterways south of the Sahara. It feeds mainly on fish, with each pair defending a relatively small territory. Perched high on a tree, it regularly belts out a gull-like laugh to keep in contact with its mate and to warn off intruding fish-eagles.

Willis was at Lake Baringo in Kenya recently when he documented an African Fish-eagle’s dramatic flight from its perch to catch a lure fish in the water - HERE: 1 and 2.

This drama is being played regularly for the benefit of tourists. The local guide stuffs a fish with balsa wood to keep it afloat. He then throws the fish into the water and whistles loudly to the eagle. Obviously the bird is used to being fed this way and responds to the call.

All you need do is sit back with your camera ready and shoot your multiple sequential shots as the fish-eagle zooms in.

Once the eagle spots the fish, it lunges from its perch and swoops down low over the water (above). The sight of this large raptor sailing down with its prominent white head flanked by a pair of huge black wings that span some 2 metres is a stunning sight.

When in flight, the raptor has its feet stretched back and the toed tightly clutched. As it nears the water surface, it lowers its pair of feet and un-clutches all eight toes to reveal the eight long, curved and sharply pointed claws (above).

Once the prey is targeted, the bird plucks it from the water surface, gripped tightly within the grasp of one set of talons, and flies off (above).

The takeoff is preceded by the upstroke of its pair of huge wings (above) before the powerful down stroke that easily gets it airborne again (below). Subsequent flapping of its powerful wings takes the bird back to its perch or to dry land to enjoy its meal.

During the upstroke, the resulting air pressure forces the primaries feathers to be twisted open, resulting in less resistance to the air. Once the wings are fully raised (above), the downstroke causes air pressure to push the broader inner vane of the primaries up against the outer vane of the feather over it (below). This produces an unbroken surface, thus the resulting lift (bottom).

The entire drama unfolds within a brief two seconds and only a fast-action camera can document the sequence shots that are shown here.

All images by Willis.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

The Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) is a forest and open woodland species. Although Thiollay (1994) reported it to be not usually found in urban gardens and parks, Hume (2002) says that it is “bold enough to hunt in gardens and parks.”

The bird is found throughout Europe, except Iceland. During the 1950s and 1960s populations decreased significantly through accidental pesticide poisoning. However, since the 1970s, numbers have increased as a result of enlightened attitudes, protection and controlled use of pesticides.

It builds a simple platform of twigs on flat branches close to the trunk and lays 4-5 eggs. It raises only one brood a year, around March-June. It feeds almost exclusively on small and medium-sized birds like tits, finches, thrushes and pigeons. The image above shows an adult male with prey in a garden in Cheshire, England.

According to Dave, the “male chooses the nest site at the end of February, builds a platform of nest, then the female helps 7/10 days later (below). They come every morning spending approximate one hour, then back around 1130 hours.

“Every time they meet they do courtship ritual, and early May courtship could be up to 12 times a day especially when male brings in a kill. She takes it off him, he goes to check the nest then comes back to mate without fail. Then they sit side by side, preening.

“As soon as 5 eggs are laid she doesn’t like him to come close but she has let him come closer than last year. When he visits her on nest, she is more tolerant. When she is ready to lay an egg, she totally ignores him. If he brings a kill, she will allow him to approach or she will come to him, take the prey and hide it in the ivy in the willow tree and have it later.

“I have put small pond under the chopping block and she used it instantly to drink, hope she bathes in it as I have a cam on it.

Check out Dave’s webpage HERE and a footage of the sparrowhawk nesting in his garden HERE.

References:
1. Hume, Rob (2002). Birds of Britain and Europe. London: Dorling & Kindersley.
2. Thiollay, J. M. (1994). Family Accipitridae (Hawks and Eagles). Pp. 52-205 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 2. New world vultures to guineafowl. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.

Images by Steve Magennis; and Chris Sperring MBE provided various assistance.