davect01
Hall of Famer
Day_2 Bird
Male Pale Chanting-Goshawk (Melierax canorus)
Not too bad a day - although I had trouble focusing on the bird and the images are big crops – I think that the light was far too bright – full sun, over 40 degrees – just after mid day
Saw it at the side of the dirt track coming down the Swartzberg Pass not far from Price Albert
Perched on top of a Telegraph post which is it’s favoured hunting perch.
Seems to only exist in Southern Africa, in dry areas.
Sexes alike but female 30% bigger than male
Feeds on
Small vertebrates, especially lizards and rodents, but also birds up to the size of francolin or small bustard and even more exceptionally Spotted Eagle-owl (Bubo africanus) and a stunned Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), as well as small tortoises, insects (including dung-beetles, grasshoppers and termites) and carrion (especially roadkills).
I thought I saw the Mountain Wagtail that I was looking out for, longer tail and a cleaner coloured bird than the Cape Wagtail but I never got an image so I cannot be sure as I only saw it with my naked eye, (i.e. not thru Bins)
Great looking bird.