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| Breede River Fish Eagle Project |
Flight of the Fish Eagle Natural Brandy together with Spier Estate and the Birds of Prey Working Group recently launched the Breede River Fish Eagle Project. The project is intended to improve eco-friendly farming in the Breede River valley by first developing a systematic chemical pollution profile for the entire Breede River and secondly to determine how efficiently the African Fish Eagle and other selected raptor species reflect that profile.
Flight of the Fish Eagle Natural Brandy will be providing funding for the project, whilst Spier's very own Fish Eagle, Neptune a juvenile, originally from the Breede River, now being rehabilitated at Spier - will act as an educational 'tool', informing the public about Fish Eagles and other raptors.
Neptune unfortunately lost one of her eyes when she was young, and hence has no depth perception. She has had to learn how to fly, feed and act like a Fish Eagle. At her approximate eight months of age, she weighs +- 3kgs, and can eat the portion size equivalent to three quarters of a fully grown chicken.
She swoops to get catch her pray, with a wingspan of just less than 2m, and consumes her food by producing a liquid from her nostrils, which acts as a lubricant to the food she 'breaks off' with the cutting action of her beak.
Flight of the Fish Eagle brandy is supporting the project because of their association with the bird of prey and because their grapes are farmed in the Breede River Valley.
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