Scotopelia peli
You're lounging, cocktail in hand, watching the crimson rays of the sinking sun dance lightly across
the gently rippling river before you. All is peaceful.
Suddenly, a big brown body erupts from the nearby tree tops and plummets with wings flared wide and upward, spiky talons outstretched. Slap-splash and a large wriggling fish is snatched from the water and hoisted into the dense, darkened canopy. A fish eagle working a little late?
Shine a spotlight on him. His head feathers fluff out in alarm but even so the head's too large: and it's brown, not white. With that facial disk and huge dark eyes, it looks owlish - but where are the "ear" tufts? The body is more tawny or gingery than that of a fish eagle, and it's patterned with dark bars, spots and streaks. Hmmm! Get out the Bird Book.
Ah, it's a Pel's fishing owl starting early on his night shift. This incurs the resentment of the fish eagle, which has been known to attack him quite viciously on occasion. Why the owl, which carries sharply spiked feet akin to those of the osprey, doesn't retaliate is perhaps a matter of temperament rather than physical prowess. The loss of the odd 2kg barbel or a few smaller fish from the river is hardly a survival threat to the eagle, particularly as the owl also has a taste for crabs, small mammals, birds and reptiles. So why the conflict?
While the fish eagle perches openly, the fishing owl prefers the thick cover of forests along lowland rivers and flood plains, where it and its mate can hide by day. It is thinly distributed in Senegal and Gambia and rare in East Africa, though more common along the rivers and swamps of Central Africa and the Congo. The Okavango Delta, the Caprivi Strip, the Levhurhu River Bridge in Kruger NP and Mkuzi Game Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal can provide good sightings.
In any of these places, keep an ear open for its varied but distinctive calls. At night it emits a jackal-like wail, which climbs to a screechy, nerve-wracking crescendo. By day its "boo-hoo" or "hoo-huuum" hoots and staccato "kuu-ku-ku" (with the last note drawn out) can be nerve shattering. Perhaps this is what really gets to the fish eagle.
Why then Bonaparte's bird? Well Napoleon (or more likely one of the researchers with his army) is reputed to have provided the first scientific description of this owl - not that the fish eagle cares. |
