Birds of Prey | Learn how to identify them

Africa is home to some incredible birds of prey that come in all shapes and sizes.
The tawny eagle is mostly a scavenging eagle and is often found amongst vultures and other opportunistic scavengers. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It is estimated that tawny eagles can reach the age of 16 years old. They breed in most of Africa, both north and south of the Sahara Desert, and across tropical southwestern Asia all the way to India. They are resident breeders which lay one to three eggs in a stick nest in a tree, crag, or on the ground. Throughout their range, they favour open dry habitats such as semideserts, deserts steppes, or savannah plains.
The African barred owlet is a species of small owl in the family Strigidae and are found in much of southern, central and eastern Africa. Calling occurs mainly at dusk and dawn but also through the night on calm and clear nights. They are frequently observed on open perches scanning for prey, even during the day. These owlets roost within cover, often in a natural cavity in a tree. If they are detected by other birds during the day they will often be subjected to mobbing. They feed on small mammals, reptiles, frogs, insects, caterpillars and even scorpions; their prey is normally caught following a short flight from a perch.
Believe it or not, the brown snake eagle doesn’t only eat brown snakes. This bird is named due to its chocolate brown colouring and happens to prey on a variety of different snakes. This species is distributed widely throughout Africa. - Please cut out the shaky footage
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The African goshawk is a medium to large-sized Accipiter which is mainly grey and rufous with the typical broad-winged and long-tailed shape of its genus. They are very noisy when displaying, they make a very distinctive clicking call, like two stones being knocked together, which is made every 2-3 seconds.
As this birds common name suggests the dark chanting goshawk is a very vocal bird. You will often see this bird perched at the tops of tall trees making an accelerating series of piping notes and flute-like whistles. During the breeding season, they are more vocal than when non-breeding. The dark chanting goshawk breeds in sub-Saharan Africa, but avoids the rainforests of the Congo basin and the far south, where it is replaced by the pale chanting goshawk and east Africa where the Eastern chanting goshawk seems to replace it.
The magnificent African fish eagle, you cannot think of Africa without thinking of this beautiful bird and its iconic sound. This species may resemble the bald eagle in appearance; though related, each species occurs on different continents, with the bald eagle being resident in North America. African fish eagles are indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging over most of continental Africa south of the Sahara Desert. This eagle feeds mainly on fish, it swoops down from a perch in a tree, snatching the prey from the water with its large talons. The eagle then flies back to its perch to eat its prized prey.
You will often see this bird hanging about a tree, this is a juvenile African harrier-hawk, previously known as a gymnogene. These birds of prey have an unusual trait, they possess double-jointed knees, which enable them to reach into inaccessible holes and cracks for prey, that it what they are most likely doing when you have seen them whist on Safari. The juvenile and adult are quite different in colour.
If you're keen on birds or want to learn about them why not have a look at our Birding in the Bush course? www.ecotraining.co.za/program...
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Is the eagle a Tawny Eagle Juvenile?