Soaring with eagles

GIVES R50 000 TO PROJECT AT BOTANICAL GARDENS Donation will enable black eagle project team to move camera to new nest.

To honour their commitment to the environment, Silverstar contributes annually towards the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans in Roodepoort to assist in preserving the eagles for future generations.

Silverstar recently spent some time with the team from the Black Eagle Project at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens to hand over a donation of R50 000.

Says Anneke Potgieter, director of operations and complex general manager at Silverstar: “This R50 000 donation includes funds collected from the Silverstar fountains, which were then matched and topped up with funds from our [corporate social investment] budget”.

The Black Eagle Project team has unofficially been monitoring the birds since 1988 and the project was formalised in 1992.

Says Gerald Draper, chairperson of the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans: “The project is run by a group of approximately 30 volunteers with eight official committee members, who monitor the eagles on public holidays and weekends. The objectives of the project are to take all necessary steps to conserve, protect and maintain the Black Eagles in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden for future generations. By monitoring and obtaining information, we are able to educate and share with the public information on their breeding cycle.”

Since the 1940s, there have been a few generations of Black Eagles nesting in the botanical gardens. Among them are the grand old lady, Emoyeni – whose name means upon the wind and is likely more than 40 years old.

The first sightings of Emoyeni were in the early ’70s with her first mate. Quatele (the cross one) was her second mate and she scoured the ridges searching for him when he disappeared in 1998.

His distinctive overhanging eye brow made him look fierce resulting in his name. Emoyeni taught her third mate Thulane (the shy one) everything she knew when this small male, barely in his first year of adulthood, arrived. In 2016, Emoyeni disappeared.

But there is a new female, Makatsa, (an unexpected surprise). In 2017, Makatsa and Thulane raised their first chick, named Ayanda, meaning (new addition to the family). Ayanda stayed until December 23, 2017, after which she left her parents’ territory but nobody knows where she has made her new home. Most eagles find shelter in the Magaliesberg area,

Makatsa has been sighted this year and laid an egg in May.

“The R50 000 donation received from Silverstar will be used to move a camera to Makatsa’s nest,” said Draper.