The African Crowned Eagle is not the biggest eagle in Southern Africa, that title goes to the Martial Eagle, but the Crowned Eagle can be described as a powerful and ferocious predator that is capable of catching prey 4 x times its own weight. The Crowned Eagle can weigh up to 5 Kg when fully grown and is capable of catching and killing prey like monkeys and small antelope that weigh up to 20Kg. They also prey on snakes and other small animals like rodents. The Crowned Eagle …is typically found in dense wooded areas and uses its colouring to blend into the trees and bush around it, they are essentially ambush predators as they lie in wait for their prey to enter their kill zone before swooping out of the trees to make a kill.
Crowned Eagles make nests out of twigs and sticks that can be up to 2 meters in diameter, they typically lay two eggs at a time and rebuild the same nest each breeding season. In the nest only the strong survive, the weaker chick in the nest will always be killed by the more dominant chick in a fight for feeding rights. The surviving chick will stay close to its nest and parents for up to a year before moving on to start its own nest and family.