Changeable Hawk Eagle nesting! :))))

It was the subject of "Who owns the best tasting durian farm in Kulai?" that lead me to the Changeable Hawk Eagle's nesting! After poking my nose for two days eventually I came to know, by words of mouth, that the location was just 10km from my home! 

According to the plantation's owner Mr.XXX, the chick was born 15days ago and one "black eagle" was seen by him building the nest two months earlier, which mostly make up of sticks nicely packed on a Y-branch just 40' above ground, on a durian tree of course!!  So you could imagine the grin on my face and my excitement because both the CHE nestings I had observed last year in Panti were 90% blocked by the thick foliage of Panti hence resulted no useable shots.

Changeable Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus cirrhatus)

Helang Hindek * カワリクマタカ * Diều đầu nâu

Aigle huppé * orol viactvarý * Изменчивый Орел * เหยี่ยวต่างสี

Haubenadler * Águila-azor Variable * Lysbuget Høgeørn

This was shot just 60' away from the 40' ht nesting, so do your 

calculation on the dist! 

Although I could go nearer but the nesting is deep-dished, hence

the situation forces me back up the slope for a clearer view of 

the chick.

Only the Pale morph (presumably the female) was seen feeding with a lizard once out of the three days' observation all done between 3-7pm. And the dark morph, presumably the male, always seen perched 30 feet away safeguarding its chick. Crows that came too near to the nesting tree were fiercely chase away.

I spent much time walking around the nesting tree just to see how the CHEs react to my presence and obviously, both the adults were more worried of other birds of prey than an old man looking for some fallen durians below. They must have got used to the workers here I guess.

The two previous nesting sites in Panti did not give me a chance to see both the adults together so I was extremely thrilled this time when both perched on the same branch for more than an hour for me, the only regret was the strong backlight resulting the imgs with very low contrast, but like i always said, I am not complaining!

And finally, could someone PLEASE teach me how to climb a durian tree! The chick is waiting!! :(

"Paul, are you serious of climbing???"