Have you spotted a ringed eagle in Pennington and surrounds?
An African crowned eagle chick was ringed as it is critical for conservation and research purposes.
Over the past couple of years, a number of African crowned eagle chicks have been ringed in Pennington and surrounding areas.
This is an important practise as ringing chicks is critical for conservation and research purposes, aimed at monitoring their survival, movements and health.
This month, Pennington’s Mary McKenzie, was invited to watch an African crowned eagle chick being ringed at a forest in the area.
“This was my fifth exciting and awe-inspiring adventure shared with various people at various sites over the years,” she explained.
“I left home at 05:45 to be at the foot of the mahogany tree by 06:15 at the very latest, where I was joined by Buster and Joanne Shipster.”
“The forest is magical at that time of the morning. No human sounds, just birds and the whisper of the breeze in the trees.”
After sharing her experience online, many said that they were grateful for the ringing process and described the event as fantastic.
It was also questioned whether or not handling the chicks have any affect on the parents afterwards. To answer this question, Mary explained that the handlers try hard to reduce human contact, and that it is a myth that birds react negatively to human contact.
“The biggest risk is a parent becoming concerned about its chick and attacking the ringer coming down with the chick, or going up to return it to its nest,” she said.
If you come across an eagle in its natural habitat, take note of the ring number and colour (if at all possible), including the date, time and specifically where the bird was spotted, and advise the Pennington Conservancy accordingly: Admin@penningtonconservancy.co.za
Research indicates that ringing these magnificent creatures also helps with understanding survival rates. The juvenile eagle mortality is believed to be high – and often over 90% do not survive to adulthood. Ringing allows experts to track how many survive to breeding age, especially as roughly 60% die within their first year.
During the ringing process, experts are also given an opportunity to get the eagle’s weight, wing length and head-bill size, as well as determine their sex – which would be difficult to obtain from a distance.
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