Leopards of the Sky

(by Shane Sumasgutner)

The Crowned Eagle is one of Africa’s most powerful forest raptors - and, somewhat surprisingly, a resident in and around the growing city of Durban, South Africa. Although this species is a forest specialist, a long-term research project has documented numerous breeding pairs in suburban green spaces, showing that these spectacular eagles aren’t just surviving, but breeding successfully even amid urban expansion. Crowned Eagles are famed for their agility in closed forest canopies and their incredible strength - capable of taking relatively large mammals such as duiker, mongooses, and vervet monkeys, which form the bulk of their diet.

credit: Ralph Buij

👉 Read the full story in the Leopard's ECHO https://le.kloofconservancy.org.za/crowned-eagle-calls-echoes-across-the-city/

What most local residents remember, though, are their distinctive, rising-and-falling whistle calls that echo across the city’s greenspace system - a soundtrack of wild nature in an urban landscape. Shane Sumasgutner, now an Honorary Research Associate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has been studying these eagles since 2012, mapping territories, monitoring breeding attempts, and using camera traps to understand what they feed on. Crowned Eagles in the Durban area are more productive than expected, with some pairs producing chicks each year rather than every second year as they do in many natural forest areas. However, living close to people is not without its challenges. Juvenile eagles - especially hard-pressed young birds learning to hunt - sometimes take easy prey like pets, prompting local concern. There are also real dangers from persecution and infrastructure hazards such as power lines, which conservationists are actively trying to mitigate. This story of Crowned Eagles “echoing” over Durban highlights not only the resilience of wildlife in human-dominated landscapes but also the importance of urban green corridors, community awareness, and ongoing research to understand and support coexistence between people and large raptors.