Things did not turn out well for one gosling when he and his siblings came face-to-face with two secretary birds.
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Trevor Datnow, a nature lover, captured the images of this very sad sighting. He shared his story and sightings with LatestSightings.com.
Trevor had been observing this particular pair of secretary birds on his property for a couple of years. He regularly watched them, especially during nesting season, when they would make use of their many nesting sites spread out across his property.
“I watched as they cared for their eggs, and when the chicks hatched, the parents brought them various prey like lizards and mice. I even contacted a nature conservation group, and they conducted studies on the birds.”
“Typically, they usually have two chicks, with the stronger one surviving. However, on one occasion they had three, and all of them were ringed and successfully raised.”
Having known these birds so well, Trevor decided during the breeding season to go out to one of their preferred nesting sites in the hope of finding them. When he arrived, he noticed that the nest was not in use, but the birds were in the area. They were foraging and hunting for food!
Secretary birds have diverse diets consisting mainly of small mammals such as rodents and reptiles like snakes and lizards, as well as insects and occasionally birds. With their remarkable hunting skills, they are adept at stomping on their prey to immobilize or kill them before eating.
“Knowing the varied diet these birds have, I knew if I waited around long enough, I would see some action. That’s when I noticed a family of Egyptian geese not too far off. This meant trouble, and I knew it would definitely be an interesting interaction. Before my words were cold, it happened. With no time to change the camera settings, I began snapping away.”
“The secretary birds went in at full speed at the family of Egyptian geese. The parents did their best to get their goslings out of the way, but the little ones couldn’t really fly away. Four of the goslings made it away safely with the parents, but one of them wasn’t so lucky. I reckon that they came and picked them off one by one after discovering their location, due to the goslings’ inability to fly.”
