It’s chick season!
Black eagle monitors are waiting with bated breath as egg-laying season approaches.
The world-famous pair of Verreaux’s (black) eagles of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden are once again readying themselves to welcome a new addition to the family.
According to Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR) committee member Dougie Crewe, Makatsa and Mahlori have, after weeks of eager construction work to their nest, been spending more time bonding.
Also read: New addition to black eagle family
“Their visits to the nest have been less hectic over the past few days, but they do continue building the nest higher and higher,” says Dougie.
“One of the monitors quipped that it looks as if they are building a penthouse this year.”
Excitement among the dedicated monitors is, as always, running high as the time for a new egg approaches.
Dougie adds that an egg is expected in around the second or third week of April.
“With these two, you never know,” he adds. “We’ve learned from the past that they have their own time, so all we can do is wait patiently.”
The BEPR monitors are keeping their camera lenses and binoculars firmly trained on the nest in the meantime.
