I felt that something was wrong by looking at his face and have a look if you can also see it?
This is a Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene) and they are the biggest of the hawks in South Africa.
Did you see what was wrong with his face?
The harrier hawk is known as one of the most athletic birds in the sky, as they have double-jointed knees that enable them to climb trees. They fly around scouting the trees for small birds with nests and then they will climb into the trees to grab the babies. Not a very good description of them, but it is the truth.
Read more about the hawk HERE
Yes, his one eye was gone.
Luckily, his other eye was good.
And now he has one blind side.
The hawks have deadly claws thar are good for climbing and for killing prey.
No, he was not waving at you, but the blind side was itching, and he scratched it a few times.
But how did he lose his eye? I think that I know.
Pied crows have a love to eat eyes and many farmers will tell you that the crows rip the eyes of their sheep lambs out.
Here the crows were in a battle with a brown kite. Any raptor bird that flies into the crows territory gets attacked by the crows.
Screaming out their anger they even make contact with the bigger raptors.
You can see the size differences here below between the crows and the raptor.
The crows are the faster and nimbler flyers and they take turns to attack the raptor.
The Harrier Hawk has big eyes and I think that he had a fight with the crows. The hawk is big and clumsy and would make perfect bait for the crows. That must be the reason why the hawk sat in hiding in the big tree. I would not have seen this, but a guy saw me taking photos of birds and he came to tell me that there was a big grey "eagle" sitting in the tree not too far away. We immediately suspected that it was the harrier hawk and yes, we were correct.
The wildlife was designed to cope with disabilities and there are many disabled birds at our local Rapture Rescue Center. Tame animals and humans also have this ability to overcome disabilities. The crows don't always have things their own way either, as at times a raptor can get a part of a crow in its beak and simply rip it off. I posted some years ago about a crow that we tried to rescue, as its right leg was ripped off. Sadly, the vet had to put the crow down.
So yes, as in human life, the skies are not always dreamy and peaceful. Everyone is only trying to survive and in our case as well.
Such is life.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
