A Tawny Eagle’s talons are curved and razor-sharp meant for catching and holding onto their prey. The word raptor comes from the Latin word "rapere”, which when used in the context of birds, means to grip, grasp or take by force which is what these birds do. A raptor's feet are important to help capture food, to fight and protect themselves.

One day while we were watching some rhinos drinking and wallowing at a waterhole during the last hour of daylight, we witnessed two eagles sitting very close to us, but they were not startled by our presence and as they sat still, we photographed them for quite some time, moving around to reposition ourselves for better light etc, and they still did not move.

At some point, the rhinos started to move away from the waterhole and this is when we all realised why the eagles were so close and paid so much attention to the rhinos. Patience is always a virtue in the wild, this worked for us as well as the eagles. Suddenly the two Tawny Eagles became active and seemed ready to attack something. We noticed right there what their target was, there was a Western Cattle Egret that seemed to have a broken wing, it could still walk but struggled to fly.

The eagles strategized their hunt as one took off in a diving manner to try and separate the Western Cattle Egret from the rhino. Whether it was the Egret being aware of their tactics even before it happened or because it had seen them sitting there, it moved cleverly with the rhinos and tried to hide under their legs. The eagles took turns from different angles to try and confuse the Egret, each one of them taking turns to attack from different directions. As the hunt progressed, the rhinos could not take the annoying dive bombs from the eagles anymore and eventually ran off, so the Egret was left on open ground. The only thing in that open area that could protect it would have been our vehicle, but we were too far for the Egret to make it to us.

As the rhinos ran off, the eagles moved in with full force. With their strong and sharp talons, they attacked the Egret several times and each time they dived down, their long talons and vice-like grip were inflicting serious wounds. Eventually, one of the eagles dived in one final time and took off with the Egret in its talon. The power that these eagles possess is unbelievable as it flew off without a struggle and perched on a dead tree nearby to enjoy the reward.

Often, most people would love to see big cats hunt or make a kill, but it can be just as exciting to see birds of prey doing the same if you are at the right place at the right time. Looking at how the eagles strategized their hunt, and how the Egret knew to try and stay close under the rhinos makes it easy to see how all animals have expert knowledge on how to survive.