No small birds like to see this guy around, as there will surely be some killing going on. We have seen one on the farm in the past, lifting a hadeda ibis baby out of a nest and it is not a good memory.
A beautiful juvenile Harrier Hawk came in on the attack and it raided a nest in a tree across the road from our house. This is raw nature.
The Harrier Hawk, known previously as the Gymnogene (Polyboroides typus), is a known nest raider, and with its double-jointed knees it can even climb trees. A very clever and stealthy hunter this guy, as at times he flies low over trees and when the small birds mob him, he knows that there are nests in the trees. Then he goes away, and he bides his time to go and raid the nests when the parents are out searching for food to feed their babies.
We were watching two little Cape Sparrows building their nest in the tree, but someone else was watching as well.
And here below the watcher appeared to raid the nest. He kept on watching until the parents started to hunt for food, as then he knew that the eggs had hatched and that there was a baby, or babies in the nest.
He turned around at the top of the tree.
And then he flipped down to the nest while the parents were screaming at him inside the tree.
He dunked his head inside the nest, and I ran over the road to try and scare him away, but no such luck.
You can see more of the Harrier Hawk at the source link below.
The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk or gymnogene (Polyboroides typus) is a bird of prey. It is about 60–66 centimetres (24–26 in) in length. It breeds in most of Africa south of the Sahara. The only other member of the genus is the allopatric Madagascar harrier-hawk (Polyboroides radiatus).
Now I will advise those with squirmy stomachs not to look at the rest of the pictures.
He landed on a wall of a house below the tree with his prey.
And finally, he took off to go and scout for other nests.
We are now in the Spring Season of the Southern Hemisphere and this took place in a rural town of the Western Cape Province in South Africa.
Babies are born all over the place and new life is in abundance in nature.
In fact I have now spent 3 weeks and 3 days filming the birth of a Malachite female baby and she is the cutest thing that you will ever see.
I have already posted the story about the nest and you are going to love what I have to show you in a series of 3 posts. The first post will be done tomorrow, so please keep an eye out for it.
Such is life in nature.
I hope that you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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