Ithemba continues to take to the skies
Ithemba has finally been taking to the skies above the Gardens alongside its parents.
Since being named Ithemba, the new black eagle juvenile has been taking to the skies around the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden to perfect the art of flying.
Ithemba hatched from its egg in mid-June this year, after the usual 44-day incubation after the egg was laid in late April/ early May. The given date of hatching was 16 June, and for the three months following, all eyes in the bird-watching community were fixed on the Verreaux’s eagle nest in the Garden.
The eagle spent the next 94 days growing by an average of 2cm every day in order to reach the average 1,8m wingspan a black eagle has when it fledges the nest. On Thursday, 20 September the time finally came for the juvenile to leave the nest, doing so in typically glorious fashion.
Exactly a week later and it came time to announce the juvenile’s new name as Ithemba, meaning ‘hope’ in the Zulu language. Ever since, Ithemba has spent its time soaring through the air above the Garden.
If you visit the Garden and make a trip down to the falls, be sure to be on the lookout for Ithemba. You’ll be able to recognise it by the colour of its feathers, which are still far from as dark as its parents. Ithemba will continue to fly around the Garden alongside its parents until December this year, when it will come time to finally leave the nest and start a family of its own.
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