Raptor Magic

I heard a really loud bird call on Monday afternoon that didn’t quite sound like a hadeda but what else could it have been? There was a rather distorted “ha” but no “de da”. So I went out down to the pond to investigate. Sure enough, a hadeda flew off so I decided that that’s what it must have been.

About 20 minutes later, I left to take the dogs for a walk and stopped dead in my tracks just outside the gate. An avian acrobat was at work on the thatched roof of our neighbours’ house – and it certainly wasn’t a hadeda.

Large grey body, black and white bands across the tail, long yellow legs, yellow face. There was no mistaking the African harrier-hawk flapping its large wings as it balanced on the angled roof. I watched with curiosity for a few minutes and guessed it was either on a kill or was stripping the thatch.

Not having my binoculars, I couldn’t really see what it was doing, though. And so the mystery would have remained if I hadn’t seen the damage to the thatch when I returned an hour and a half later. Poor neighbours. It’s wonderful to have wildlife on your roof, but not if it’s going to cost you a few thousand to repair the damage.

We’ve seen this beautiful bird of prey a few times lately. One recent Sunday, after a heavy lunch with Siegie’s mother, the three of us walked down to the pond to check out the koi. I threw some pellets on to the water and we watched idly as the fish lazily rose to the surface. With no algae in the water, we marvelled at its crystal clarity.

And so it was that all of us saw it at the same time. The reflection of an African harrier-hawk floated across the water, spreading its magnificent barred tail as it turned on the gentle breeze. 

We looked up and there it was, just metres above our heads. “Gymnogene!” Siegie and I both exclaimed, before remembering that this is one of the victims of South Africa’s recent fascination with name changes. It turned its big grey body and we clearly saw the bare yellow facial skin that is diagnostic.

It passed just above the trees on our boundary and landed in our neighbour’s palm tree. “Maybe it’s nesting there,” said Siegie hopefully, “like the one we saw in Kruger.”

Ah yes. We were in the Kruger National Park in January and spent a day up in the far north along the Luvhuvhu River. An African harrier-hawk on a nest in a palm tree was one of our treasured spots.

But this bird was more than likely scouting out nesting material rather than nesting in our neighbours’ garden. After a few minutes, it took off, skimmed the rooftop and headed off towards Constantia Nek.

And that is more than likely where it’s nesting, in one of the tall pines of Cecilia Plantation. Indeed, a week or so later Siegie and I saw a couple soaring just above the treetops at the start of the footpath leading up to the Back Table.

According to our bird book, September-October is peak breeding season for the African harrier-hawk, a bird that’s more likely to be found in the Cedarberg. Is it possible that we might have a breeding pair at the top of our beautiful valley? It would be a real treat to see more of these big raptors in our skies.