Possible predation of a Pygmy Falcon by a Tawny Eagle in Namibia

Abstract

On 8 August 2010, approximately 2km east-southeast of Okaukuejo Camp, Etosha National Park, Namibia, my tour group and I an adult Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax with a prey item. The prey item was clearly a fairly small, very pale bird that we assumed was a Cape Turtle-Dove Streptopelia capensis. We photographed the eagle and its prey item; when we examined the photos later we realized that the prey item was not a Cape Turtle-Dove as expected, but a Pygmy Falcon Polihierax semitorquatus