The African hawk eagle and snakes have a complex relationship, with the eagle often preying on snakes, including venomous ones. The eagle’s keen vision and sharp talons make it a formidable hunter, while the snake’s venom and agility in the air can pose a threat to the eagle.
The African Hawk Eagle: A Skilled Predator
The African hawk eagle is a powerful bird of prey found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. It primarily hunts small to medium-sized mammals and birds but will also take reptiles and other prey. The eagle’s diet often includes snakes, and it has been known to prey on venomous species such as the banded sea snake.
Hunting Techniques
In a video from National Geographic Wild, an eagle is seen hunting a banded sea snake, one of the most venomous snakes in the world. The snake, which spends most of its time in water, is vulnerable when it comes ashore to breed. The eagle, with its keen vision and sharp talons, is well-equipped to snatch the snake from the ground and carry it back to its nest. However, the snake fights back, biting at the eagle in midair. Despite the risk of venom, the eagle manages to deliver the snake to its young.
Prey Sharing
The African hawk eagle’s interspecific predatory relationships are complex, as it shares prey with both smaller and larger raptorial birds and has overlapping habitat areas with them. In Tsavo East National Park, 50% of prey was shared with tawny eagles.
Physical Characteristics of the African Hawk Eagle
Image source: African hawk-eagle by Charles J. Sharp
The African hawk eagle is a mid-sized raptor with a small but well-protruding head, a longish tail, and wings that are neither particularly long nor broad. Adults have a significant pale whitish-grey window on the base of their primaries, extending into dark grey panels across the black-tipped secondaries.
Plumage Differences
The grey tail usually only shows obscure bars from a distance besides the broad subterminal band. From below, the black trailing edges with contrasting greyish white flight feathers as well as the more apparent subterminal band are distinctly abutted by paler grey feathering. The greater coverts show various solid black diagonal markings that coalesce and create a signature appearance from below in a flying adult African hawk-eagle.
In flying juveniles, if seen from above, the contrasting creamy window, as in the adults, and barred tail stand out as the most distinct features of the species. Below, the juvenile African hawk-eagles show rufous wing linings that match the forebody and rather varying dusky edges, which often form carpal arcs and sometimes continuing as wing diagonals. The wings are otherwise rather nondescript in juvenile African hawk-eagles with greyish buff secondaries and tail thinly barred and white-based primaries.
Habitat and Distribution
The African hawk eagle is found across much of sub-Saharan Africa, including southern Ethiopia, southern Chad, southern Sudan, the central and southern portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, north-central Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, and northeastern South Africa.
Conclusion
The African hawk eagle and snakes have a complex and intense predatory relationship, with the eagle often preying on snakes, including venomous species. The eagle’s hunting techniques and physical characteristics make it a formidable predator, while the snake’s venom and agility can pose a threat to the eagle. This interspecific relationship is an important part of the ecosystem in sub-Saharan Africa.
References:
– Eagle vs. Toxic Snake | World’s Deadliest – YouTube
– Martial or Black-chested Snake Eagle – Africa birds – Safaritalk
– African hawk-eagle – Wikipedia
– Eagle vs. snake: Who will come out on top in this epic battle? – YouTube
– African Hawk-Eagle: The Ultimate Guide – Operation Migration
