Walk along "The Avenue" of Belvidere Estate, the historic road, now a walkway, that Thomas Duthie created in the late 1800's between the mansion on his farm Uitzigt (today Belvidere Manour House on Belvidere Estate) and the Holy Trinity Church (in adjacent Old Belvidere village).
Strolling along here you will find this micro cache in a host that hopefully will soon again, as it did before for many years, be home to a family of the Spotted Eagle Owl - an owlhouse was installed recently to attract them back.
BYOP!
The SPOTTED EAGLE OWL is the second largest owl in the southern Cape – only the Verreaux’s eagle owl is larger but it is much rarer.
Spotted eagle-owls are generally solitary birds. During the day they roost in trees, rock crevices, caves, under bushes, or sometimes even in abandoned burrows. Pairs may sometimes roost together, engaging in mutual preening.
Spotted eagle-owls are nocturnal hunters; they usually hunt by swooping down toward the prey and either catch it directly or pursue it on foot. An adult pair is typically very aggressive in defense of its hunting territory. When the female cannot leave the nest the male will hunt and bring her food. Sometimes, even in conditions verging on starvation, he will tear the head off a mouse, but bring the body for the female to feed to the young, or to eat herself if the eggs have not yet hatched. Spotted eagle-owls communicate vocally.
Their calls are generally typical, musical eagle-owl hoots. Generally the male call with two hoots: "Hooo hooopoooo" and the female answers with three, with less stress on the middle note: "Hooo hoo hooo". The young do not hoot till effectively adult, but from a very young age, they will hiss threateningly and snap their beaks castanet-like if alarmed. In a comfortable social situation, the owlets have a soft croaking "kreeep" that they repeat for a few seconds.
Spotted eagle-owls are monogamous and pairs mate for life. Breeding begins in July continuing to the first weeks of February. The pair constructs a nest, usually on the ground, hidden in the grass, amongst rocks, or under a bush, but if they can find a suitable place in the fork of a large tree or the corner of a building above ground level they will utilise these nest sites because they are safer than nest sites on the ground. The female lays two to four eggs and does the incubation, leaving the nest only to eat what the male has brought for food.
The incubation period lasts approximately 32 days. Upon hatching, owlets are blind and will open their eyes 7 days later. Owlets start to leave the nest and wandering around (the ground, which makes them vulnerable to predators, including dogs) when they are 4-6 weeks old and will able to fly at 7 weeks. They usually remain with parents for another 5 weeks and become reproductively mature one year after fledging.
Like all predators they will kill and eat anything they can overpower and kill. However, their feet are comparatively small compared to the other eagle owls and while they will kill mice and small birds, they in fact probably eat many more insects than mammals and birds. They do occasionally manage to find a small snake and kill it. They will often sit below a street light and catch the insects drawn to the light – the insects hit the light and fall to the street below. Unfortunately they also are sitting where cars travel so many of them become the victims of hit and drive accidents
Fun Facts for Kids
- Owls have 14 bones in their necks; this allows the birds to rotate their necks 270 degrees. In comparison, humans have only 7.
- Spotted eagle-owls often re-use their nesting sites for many years and some breeding pairs have been known to use their nests within 40 years.
- When Spotted eagle-owl chicks hatch their eyes are grey in color and within two weeks gradually become yellow.
- Spotted eagle-owls enjoy bathing and during summer thunderstorms may be seen on tree limbs or on the ground with spread wings.
- When Spotted eagle-owls hoot, they generally do this in a threatening attitude with head down and wings spread sideways to present their upper surfaces forward, umbrella-like. They might present such behavior either as a challenge to rival owls or when defending a nest or young against enemies.
(photo credit: Tony Camacho)