Soaring High Above

Many eagles and other birds of prey pass through or stay in the UAE.

Visitors include peregrine and saker falcons, tawny, steppe, booted, imperial, lesser and greater spotted eagles, buzzards, hawks, harriers, kites and shikra.

They appear during autumn or during winter, when there is an influx of migratory ducks, geese and waders on which these birds feed.

One particular eagle - the greater spotted (Aq-uila clanga) – seems oblivious to the hustle and bustle of our cities.

We often see it in the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. But it ventures into Al Warsan Lake, golf and racing courses and the Pivot Field.

Recently, I was heading for the Pivot Field.

I saw an eagle crossing a road and heading towards a farm. By the time I could cover 500 metres in my car and reached the centre of the park the eagle had already caught a red-wattled lapwing.

The moment I got out of the car I could hear lots of commotion, and most of the larger birds in the field were airborne trying to chase the eagle away. But the damage had already been done.

As a result nests go unattended, or chicks have to be taken care of by the surviving parent.

This is the rule of nature.

Nature’s laid-down principle, the process of eating and being eaten, is followed almost universally – excepting in the case of human beings, who have a rational approach because of their superior brain capacity to plan for the future.