Wild Adventures Blog
Journey to the wild
The Escort
Cape Point offers a lot more fantastic wildlife opportunities than the odd ostrich that crosses the road en route to the lighthouse and restaurants.
I spent a day in the nature reserve only focusing on spotting wildlife and I was presently surprised by the diversity that this park holds. There is one specific sighting that really fascinated me. I have recently fallen in love with the Jackal Buzzard. These raptors exude major attitude and definitely dominate the skies. Or so I thought.
While following one of the roads in the park, I saw a Jackal Buzzard glide across a hill top. I stopped and viewed this majestic bird of prey for a moment. Then the craziest event happened.
The Jackal Buzzard started moving in closer to the hill. All of a sudden a large flock of Red Winged Starlings took flight. I really wasn’t sure what was going on, but then I realised that they must have been nesting and that Jackal Buzzard just came in too close for comfort.
These little starlings are far smaller than the raptor, but together they banded together and seemed to escort the intruder away from their nests.
There was easily 100 birds that took to the sky. It was incredible to listen to the noise that they were making and the urgency at which they removed this imposter from their territory.
Once the Jackal Buzzard was far enough from the starlings, the commotion subsided and the hill returned to its peaceful state as if nothing had happened.
2 Comments on “The Escort”
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Wild Adventures Blog 
How wonderful it is that you managed to capture this sequence of events!
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What a sighting! And a great example of the value of teamwork!
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