Photo story. Martial eagle Vs White stork - Masai Mara.
February, Masai Mara, Kenya. - See more World wildlife photos
It was midday and we have been out in the African bush since just before sunrise. Lions are our camera's prey at the moment. We have spent hours waiting for some kind of action but the lions have their own intentions and that seems to be lazing about.
I was trying to kill time watching a flock of European storks flying by, on their way to new feeding grounds. Suddenly out of nowhere a huge silhouette came straight for one of the storks. I could not believe my eyes that something was brave enough to tackle a bird of stork dimensions in mid-air. I grabbed my binoculars to watch the two shapes tumbling to the ground. Of course the bird of prey could not maintain his flight with such large prey held in his claws. He managed to control the descent but flying was not an option, he literally parachuted to the ground.
I missed the landing as both birds disappeared behind a bush, but it wasn’t far off so we abandoned our sleepy lions and steered the car towards the birds. We found the eagle on top of the stork already tearing at its side. To my surprise it was a beautiful Martial Eagle, not yet fully matured.
It had taken us a good 10 minutes to manoeuvre our car to the landing site. I expected the stork to be dead, but suddenly it raised its head and with a last force of dying energy attempted to spear the Martial Eagle in the head. However both strength and speed were missing and the Martial Eagle ducked the blows of the pointed beak and continued feeding.
After gorging himself for another 30 minutes the eagle decided that he was too much in full view of everyone, including us and every other potential scavenger in the area. He dragged the now dead bird a good 50 metres to where he continued feeding under the protection of a bush. Well it was time for us to go back to camp for our lunch so we left him there to finish his meal. We passed by later that evening to find just a few feathers left on the ground as remnants of the mornings drama.
Story and photos courtesy of Michel Laplace-Toulouse. Michel was with African Latitude when he encountered the Martial Eagle.
Read more about the Masai Mara.
