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It
comes as no surprise that an owl whose main food is fish spends most
of its time along large rivers and around pans.
Pel's Fishing Owl is a very large (length about 63cm)
reddish brown owl with no ears, dark eyes and bare legs. They are also distinguishable
by having no clearly marked facial disc. Sexes are alike although
the male is slightly smaller than the female.
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By day it is usually
found at roost on a large branch, deep within the cover of a large branch,
deep within the cover of a leafy riverside tree and it will only fly out
into the open if disturbed. By night it emerges to perch boldly in the open,
overlooking he water in search of any fish moving near the surface.
It plunges into the water to grasp its slippery prey with the long talons
and spiky soles of its fee and then returns to a perch to consume the prey
or share it with its family.
Each pair of owls defends a stretch of river or
shoreline and the members of a pair often call together in a deep hooting
duet. Synchronized calling, bowing displays and courtship feeding all
increase prior to the breeding season, which takes place when the water
levels are dropping at the end of the summer rains. |
Two eggs are laid in a natural cavity in a large tree or
the old nest of a Hamerkop. The eggs are incubated by the female
alone for about five weeks, during which time the role of the male is to
deliver food to his mate. Only one chick survives to fledge. The
second-hatched dies of starvation within a few days through not being able
to compete with its older sibling. The chick starts out small and
sightless with sparse white down, but develops into a cuddly juvenile with
a fluffy beige second down, some of which it retains over its adult-like
wing and body feathers when it fledges after a 10-week nesting
period. The chick remains in the parental territory for up to a
year, dependent on the adults for food that it solicits with eerie,
drawn-out calls.
Once fully feathered and independent, the juvenile faces
the major problem of its species, dispersal and survival along a narrow,
linear riverine habitat that is being increasingly disturbed and altered
by humans. This degradation is taking place both along the river
banks and also in the quantity and quality of water (and hence fish) that
arrives from upstream. In South
Africa they are mostly restricted to the major rivers of the lower Limpopo
River system and a few larger rivers along the east coast of KwaZulu Natal
as far south as Mtunzini. They are no longer found in Swaziland,
following cyclone damage of riverine habitats. |
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