NRFS #5: Long-crested eagle - behaviour
The cache, a custom-made blue bottle-tops micro, is hidden in a small tree next to a huge rotting tree in the middle of the forest near to a junction of trails. GPSr accuracy here was ~7m.
For information on the NRFS and how to get there, see GC6WD6P.
To reach this cache just head straight down the main trail past #1, #2 and #3 caches as far as S 1 19.076 E 36 45.139 where a small trail starts heading west into the forest. Follow this for some 80m to the cache location. From here you can either head back to the main trail or continue following small trails through the forest, initially north-west to cross over the end of the Ngong Race-Course then back into and though the forest to join the main trail again at the multi-junction @ approx. S 1 18.818 E 36 45.109.
Continued from GC6WKQN NRFS#4: Long-crested eagle - appearance . . .
The long-crested eagle is territorial and the male displays during courtship in which he performs steep dives and also 
uses a rocking, level display flight, calling frequently during these displays. Pairs are monogamous and both sexes build the nest - a stick platform 50-80cm wide and 15-30cm deep, with a bowl shaped depression in the centre lined with green leaves - which is normally in the mid canopy 7-45m above ground and very close to the trunk of a large leafy tree near the forest edge. Preferred trees include acacia, fig (Ficus), Eucalyptus and Musasa (Brachystegia spiciformis). The same nest site is used for a number of years, but not generally for as long periods as with some other eagles.
If available, it will often reuse the nest of another bird, eg. black sparrowhawk or lizard buzzard. Breeding is year round, but related to change in rodent population which is linked to rainfall. Most eggs are laid in July–November. The female lays 1-2 brown- and gray-spotted eggs, and does most of the incubation lasting 42 days, with the male providing her with food. She also leaves the nest to kill for herself at times. During the incubation period the male is often near the nest and roosts in the same tree or in another close by.
As is normal in birds of prey the eggs are laid asynchronously, as much as 2 weeks apart, and incubation starts as soon as the first egg is laid which means that hatching is also asynchronous.
When the young hatch they are initially mainly fed by the male. The period from hatching to fledging is 53-58 days, and juveniles are fully fledged by 28 days. It then grows steadily, climbing about on branches of the nest tree from 45-50 days and making its first flight at about 55 days. It then moves quickly away from the nest site. The parents continue to feed it for another 2 weeks or so after it has left the nest.
Up to 98% of its diet is rodents - in the Sanctuary these would predominantly include the Natal multimammate mouse
(Mastomys natalensis) and the Angoni vlei rat (Otomys angoniensis). Birds, including owls and the young of other raptors, frogs and lizards, invertebrates and even fish and fruit have also been recorded as forming part of its diet. On the other hand, nestlings may be preyed upon by monkeys (such as Sykes monkey) whilst genets may go for the eggs.
It is a 'sit and wait' (still) hunter which waits on a perch, scanning the ground and swoops on prey with a gliding flight when it is spotted. They catch most of their food on the ground and prey is swallowed whole - they have a very wide mouth (note their gape extends to the back of the eye). Most hunting is done in early morning and late afternoon.
They are very vocal, noisy birds, particularly during the breeding season. Their calls include a high-pitched scream and a repetitive "kik kik kik" - listen here and here.