Simon Thomsett

Category: Rehabilitation | Date: Jan 24 2008 | By: admin

Wahlberg’s Eagle.

The Wahlberg’s Eagle is a small version of the more commonly encountered Tawny Eagle. Unlike them however they have short crests and 2 or 3 colour morphs, one a russet brown the other almost cream white. The third ‘morph’ is something in between that can be very confusing. ‘Morphs’ are colour variations predetermined at conception with which they remain for life. A ‘phase’ is a transitory thing, like being a teenager. A phase is something one goes through, and it cannot be applied to animals of differing colour (except perhaps chameleons and such).Environmental conditions can alter the colour of the individual. For example if you happen to be on the equator and at high altitude you will be hammered by ultraviolet light and be bleached more than if you live in dark gloomy temperate parts. I have seen Tawny Eagles on the high plateaus of Ethiopia that were pearly white because of this.

The Wahlberg’s Eagle is quite powerful for its size. Weighing in at only 1-1.5 kg it has a foot mass almost the same size as a small Steppe Eagle weighing nearly three times more. Despite what must be inconclusive DNA analysis it has been swapped from one genus to another. It may either be a Hieraaetus “Hawk Eagle” or an Aquila…a member of the ‘true’ mostly large brown eagles. But when you look at a pale morph individual with a perky crest, listen to its weird pipping call, see it fly and stoop and question its odd inter-African movements it begins to look like the Booted Eagle a mostly Eurasian small Hawk Eagle.

Around the 22nd Nov 2007 I got a message from Andrew in Lamu that he had a young eagle brought to him by kids and wasn’t too sure what it was or what to do with it. I saw the picture on the email in a cyber cafe at the airport and it had the typical impish face of the Wahlberg’s Eagle. The photo opposite shows the deep darkened eyebrow with a short curved down mouth and fairly small bill typical of this species. I asked him to contact Susannah Goss who had a Wahlberg’s too and could advice while I was away on the India trip. It was critical he feed it properly and that he not associate too closely with it lest it “imprint” of him and end up being a fruitcake for the rest of its life. I hoped that the most important point got across and that is to feed it as much calcium as possible. I think I messed up in advising calcium lactate rather than calcium phosphate. The difference is minimal, only that the phosphate in calcium phosphate offsets some of the gain that the calcium gives in the usual diet of captive birds. A young growing bird is one of the fastest growing animals on earth, and its bones grown at a terrifying rate and they need calcium immediately. Young eagles of course get their calcium from the bones and flesh of animals that the parents kill and bring into the nest. The ideal choice in such a situation is to duplicate exactly what the parents feed the chick. But it isn’t easy finding enough ground squirrels, francolin, rodents, small hares and small birds so the next best thing has to do. Andrew had fewer choices than most on the island of Lamu, but I think he found small chickens and beef etc. You can do quite well on just these two foods so long as there isn’t a scrap of beef fat (which is a killer), and can use good multi Vit and add calcium. It isn’t great, but it will do for larger raptors. It’ll kill smaller ones.

The year previously Susannah driving up from the coast with her family saw some kids swinging around a baby eagle by its wing stubs selling it to passers by. Outraged they jumped out and gave the kids an earful and rescued the eagle. It turned out to a Wahlberg’s Eagle and it had fractured its leg. They reared it for a while but unfortunately the long arm bones had bowed due to the lack of sufficient calcium. It was easy to see when they came to my house with the baby eagle that they were all enchanted by him. But despite this affection they were all adamant that he be released one day, which sadly could not be the case…not unless he had multiple successful operations and extensive training, and was imprinted back onto his own kind. It can be done, but it may take a few years. But the leg needed immediate surgery because it had bent and healed at right angles and he would never stand properly. Often you do not have the equipment available to you nor specialised veterinary help. I think we all expect too much from “our” vet. I think we all tend to be unfair to them depending upon a miracle they achieved or a failure they committed. I admit that right now I am cautious about most due to a rather fatalistic attitude that prevails. If the bird has only a small chance of survival some vets think nothing of putting them down. But it is those birds with small chances that have made enormous contributions to what we know about raptors and their management and captive breeding. Given my own hesitation I have long had to operate on birds alone sometimes improvising along the way. Because his bones were young and still full of marrow passing an intermedullary pin through it could cause problems. So it had to be fixed with external arrangement of pins that puncture the leg and nearly 90 degrees that also passes through the bone and exits the skin on the other side. In some cases you can use epoxy resins to plaster the outside and keep the pins stable. But one of the better options are miniature clasps with screws that hold the pins. They are available in specialised places abroad, they may even exist somewhere in Kenya but I doubt they are small enough. With such a “hopeless case” I dreaded going to the vet for advice, visualising, completely unfairly, the lethal injection. So I use electrical contacts drilled out to form mini clamps. We call it “Jua Kali” technology here.(see photo).

By April 2007 “Wally” had recovered well, regained full use of his leg and was trained briefly to fly to the glove. But his ability to hunt was questionable as he was weak on one wing. He certainly showed little enthusiasm for it despite us trying fairly hard. So Susannah had to take him home and removed her husband’s car from the garage in order to make a pen for him. He is of course a cherished member of the family (the eagle that is) and spoilt rotten. He could wait until one day, by enormous chance a female Wahlberg’s was brought in that could not be released. What are the chances? Hundreds to one. Wahlberg’s Eagles have declined drastically throughout Kenya. I used to go down the Thika road just outside Nairobi with the legendary late Dr Leslie Brown to his then famous “Eagle Hill” in Embu. On the way there were Wahlberg’s Eagle nests in plenty. In less than 10 years there were none. They used to nest in Karen and Langata within the city limits, but not for a very long time. In Nyeri I knew of a few pairs and again they are long since gone. They are inter-African migrants, arriving possibly from the well wooded miombo or even central African forests to breed in Oct and then leave in Feb-March. But I have seen all year round pairs especially in Tsavo where they still occur in fairly normal numbers. They are not adverse to people. The coastal strip is teeming with people who are not (as these two birds prove) adverse to direct persecution. But they still breed there in exotic trees. That their distribution and numerical status may have changed as not a surprise, but I suspect that their migratory habits may have changed too. There is little stopping a migratory eagle moving from one place to another if the conditions suit it.

The Wahlberg’s from Lamu had not faired as well as Susannah’s. Andrew texted and emailed from Lamu that it was not standing anymore and was not eating so well. I asked Susannah to pick her up at Wilson Airport where she arrived in a huge cardboard box. After checking it over the left leg was broken and not healed, the right humerus was fractured but healing, as was the left radius and ulna. The right foot seemed to curl inward. It was all the result of very fragile thin bones and lack of calcium. I opted to fix the broken leg immediately using epoxy resin, car body filler and bamboo sticks. It worked although there is a slight rotation on the union. You can imagine that a young eagle with very limited ability to stand or move can be messy. So she spent most of the time lying down in a fake nest, or being left on the lawn to socialise with Vero’s the eagle (who looked like she would not mind eating the baby eagle).

The picture opposite (23rd Jan 2007) shows the bird standing on the leg that was broken but now healed. The right foot is still curled inward and is useless. I will try to keep it permanently open by sealing the foot in a fibre glass lightweight cast. If she can stand and feed for herself then I will be happy. She has just finished growing all her feathers and would be fledging right now. She has a potential mate, and in time, if all goes well we may be able to build them a special shed and allow them to breed.

Why? Why not! Years ago no-body questioned this. Everyone used to brag out loud or in the press if they bred an eagle. There’d be hearty pats on the back despite the fact that few had any idea what the next step would be. Today when the need is many times this achievement can be deflated. But it should not be, especially here in east Africa where so few attempt it. To me one of the most important aspects of these “problem” birds is that it creates passionate interest that is very difficult to start in their absence. To be stuck with the responsibility of looking after an eagle or hawk changes people. These two eagles had a lot of people running around trying to help and they will continue to do so if they are allowed to care. That’s what matters.