EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

African Fish Eagle Grabs Dinner

African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer)
Lake Baringo, Rift Valley, Kenya

Explanation:  Jambo!  This week we are on Lake Baringo (rhymes with flamingo) in the ancient Rift Valley of Kenya, in east Africa.  From a shoreline perch, two adult African Fish Eagles take off and swoop down with precision to snag fish for their young.  

These beautiful raptors feed mainly on fish but also carrion and occasionally small birds and other small vertebrates.  

Like many other eagle species, African Fish Eagles also engage in what has been called kleptoparasitism -- pirating food from each other or from other birds.  They will steal fish from Yellow-billed Storks and Maribou Storks.  At Lake Nukuru in Kenya I watched a lone African Fish Eagle swoop in and pirate carrion from two larger Steppe Eagles on the ground.  

African Fish Eagles are widespread throughout sub-Saharan African but are always a joy to watch, particularly as they engage in their fish-grabbing swoops over lakes and rivers.
  

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