The eagle will then fly back to its perch to eat its catch. The African fish eagle feeds mainly on fish, which it will swoop down upon from a perch in a tree, snatching the prey from the water with its large clawed talons. Those that survive their first year have a life expectancy of some 12 to 24 years. Post-fledgling dependence lasts up to three months, whereafter the juveniles become nomadic, and may congregate in groups away from territorial adults. Siblicide does not normally occur in this taxon, and the parents will often successfully rear two or three chicks. Incubation lasts for 42 to 45 days before the chicks hatch. Incubation is mostly done by the female, but the male will incubate when the female leaves to hunt. The female lays 1 to 3 eggs, which are primarily white with a few reddish speckles. The nests are placed in a large tree and are built mostly of sticks and other pieces of wood. Because nests are re-used and built upon over the years the nests can grow quite large, some reaching 2 m across and 1.2 m deep. Pairs will often maintain two or more nests, which they will frequently re-use. African fish eagles are believed to be monogamous – in other words, they mate for life.
The African fish eagle is absent from arid areas with little surface water.īreeding season for African fish eagles is during the dry season, when water levels are low. This is evident by the number of habitat types that this species may be found in, including grassland, swamps, marshes, tropical rainforest, fynbos and even desert bordering coastlines, such as that of Namibia. The African fish eagle is a generalist species, requiring only open water with sufficient prey and a good perch. The African fish eagle is thought to occur in substantial numbers around the locations of Lake Victoria and other large lakes that are found in Central Africa, particularly the Rift Valley lakes. Several examples of places where they may be resident include the Orange River in South Africa and Namibia, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and Lake Malawi bordering its namesake country Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. As their name implies, African fish eagles are indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging over most of continental Africa south of the Sahara Desert. This species is still quite common near freshwater lakes, reservoirs, and rivers, although they can sometimes be found near the coast at the mouths of rivers or lagoons.
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