He arrived, circling above the gardens in our complex!
This is not an ordinary eagle or falcon, as it is known as a "Gymnogene", a name given because of his double jointed knees. One of only two raptor bird species that can climb trees.
His modern name is the "Harrier Hawk" and although he is beautiful, he is also highly dangerous!
Look at this adventure today!
The warning calls of the Egyptian geese alerted me to a danger and I rushed outside!
Not too soon, as here the gymnogene landed in a tree on a neighbor's property!
Searching in a tree where he must have spotted one of the new young squirrels!
This is what he was looking for, but this young one was safely in our own garden.
This guy is very hungry due to the rain and he was determined to find something to eat!
The male goose took off to attack him and I also rushed towards the property where the tree is!
Now this gate has not been opened for a very long time so I climbed in a great hurry over the wall!
But I was too late as the goose had scared the hawk off and there he goes!
Flying away to search somewhere else for a meal!
The hawk is going to struggle to find something in this weather and as long as he doesn't find it here all is well.
We are so thankful to have the Egyptian geese as our watch dogs Lol.
Here's more information about the Gymnogene!
"The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk, or gymnogene (Polyboroides typus) is a bird of prey. It breeds in most of Africa south of the Sahara. The only other member of the genus is the allopatric Madagascan harrier-hawk (Polyboroides radiatus)".
"The African harrier-hawk is omnivorous, eating the fruit of the oil palm as well as hunting small vertebrates. Its ability to climb, using wings as well as feet, and its long double-jointed legs, enable this bird to raid the nests of cavity-nesters such as barbets and woodhoopoes for eggs and nestlings".
"It has been known to prey on introduced species such as feral pigeons, house sparrows and eastern gray squirrels".
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_harrier-hawk
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