Video highlights 2015

Snake eagle highlights

 

In March 2015, Keren and Yisrael had returned from Africa, where they had spent the winter, and built a nest. During March, they worked on making improvements to their nest and engaged in behavior designed to consolidate their relationship. Yisrael courted Keren by demonstrating his prowess as a hunter and brought her snakes to feed on. An egg was laid in early April, and and hatching occured in early May, thus Oren the snake eaglet was born. The eagles returned to Africa in August 2015.

Here, we present video highlights of the nesting highlights from 2015. Enjoy!

The last clip of 2015: At almost two months old, Oren the snake-eaglet is now a fledgling. Watch him test out his nearly fully-grown wings. Watch more clips of Oren and his parents Keren and Yisrael throughout the entire nesting process below!

Oren can eat all by himself!

At 17 days old, Oren has succeeded to swallow an entire snake by himself for the first time. It's a bit of an early age for an eaglet to swallow a snake whole, so we can assume that Oren has been fed an impressive amount of food brought frequently to the nest by his father Yisrael, which helps him grow and gain weight at a steady pace.
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Mom, I'm hungry!

In this clip, Oren the snake eaglet is 9 days old. You can see him eagerly partake of the black headed ground snake that is being fed to him by his mom Keren.
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The eaglet's first snake

In the late morning hours, after the new baby's hatching, Yisrael, the proud dad, arrived with the chick's first meal - a juicy chameleon. Keren put the chameleon down on the side and slowly fed the new chick little pieces from it. In the afternoon, the chick was already snacking on larger prey, it seems it was a platyceps najadum (Dahl's whip snake).
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The new chick's first hours

Congratulations! Keren and Yisrael's chick has hatched after 47 days of incubation. As you can see in this video, the new chick is still very small and weak, and it struggles to raise its head. In a few days, it will be able to keep its head upright.
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A special treat for the expecting mom

Even while incubating, Keren still needs her food. Yisrael hears her cry and flies over with a special treat: a giant scheltopusik (legless lizard).
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Yisrael takes a turn babysitting the egg

Keren the female snake eagle has been sitting on the egg day and night, steadily incubating the heir to the throne. Her mate Yisrael comes to relieve her so that she can stretch her legs a bit.
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"Congratulations! There's an egg in the nest!"

On his way to the Passover seder, birds of prey researcher Gilad Friedman of Tel Aviv University, who is observing the snake eagles named Keren and Yisrael, recieved a phone call. It was from a snake eagle researcher in the Ukraine, who has been watching the live broadcast of the snake eagles in Israel. "Congratulations!" he said. "There's an egg in the nest!" This clip shows the amazing egg laying process of Keren, the female snake eagle.

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"What did you bring me to eat?"

Keren the snake eagle flies home with a twig to add to the nest before the laying season. Her mate Yisrael comes come with another twig, leaves it with Keren and flies off. Yisrael comes back a second time, this time with a tasty treat for Keren...
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Love among the branches

The snake eagles Keren and Yisrael reveal a romantic partnership. Keren is busy building their nest when Yisrael comes home with a twig in his beak. Keren and Yisrael lay the twig down together and then exchange kisses.

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