title: Thomas à Kempis

text: He was a member of the Modern Devotion, a spiritual movement during the late medieval period, and a follower of Geert Groote and Florens Radewyns, the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: Thomas was born in Kempen in the Rhineland. His surname at birth was Hemerken (or Hammerlein), meaning the family's profession, "little hammer," Latinized into "Malleolus." His father, Johann, was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrud, was a schoolmistress. Although almost universally known in English as Thomas à Kempis, the "a" represents the Latin "from" and is erroneously accented. In his writings he signed himself "Thomas Kempensis" or "Thomas Kempis".


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: In 1392, Thomas followed his brother, Johann, to Deventer in the Netherlands in order to attend the noted Latin school there. While attending this school, Thomas encountered the Brethren of the Common Life, followers of Gerard Groote's Modern Devotion. He attended school in Deventer from 1392 to 1399.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: After leaving school, Thomas went to the nearby city of Zwolle to visit his brother again, after Johann had become the prior of the Monastery of Mount St. Agnes there. This community was one of the Canons Regular of the Congregation of Windesheim, founded by disciples of Groote in order to provide a way of life more in keeping with the norms of monastic life of the period. Thomas himself entered Mount St. Agnes in 1406. He was not ordained a priest, however, until almost a decade later. He became a prolific copyist and writer. Thomas received Holy Orders in 1413 and was made sub-prior of the monastery in 1429.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: His first tenure of office as subprior was interrupted by the exile of the community from Agnetenberg (1429). A dispute had arisen in connection with an appointment to the vacant See of Utrecht. Pope Martin V rejected the nomination of Bishop-elect Rudolf van Diepholt, and imposed an interdict. The Canons remained in exile in observance of the interdict until the question was settled (1432). During this time, Thomas was sent to Arnhem to care for his ailing brother. He remained there until his brother died in November, 1432.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: Otherwise, Thomas spent his time between devotional exercises in writing and in copying manuscripts. He copied the Bible no fewer than four times, one of the copies being preserved at Darmstadt, Germany, in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound with biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: As subprior he was charged with instructing novices, and in that capacity wrote four booklets between 1418 and 1427, later collected and named after the title of the first chapter of the first booklet: "The Imitation of Christ". Thomas More said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own. Thirteen translations of the "Imitatio Christi" and three paraphrases in English seem to have been published between 1500 and 1700. Thomas died near Zwolle in 1471. There is a legend that he was denied canonization some 200 years after his death by the Catholic Church due to the presence of scratch marks on the interior of his coffin lid, which supposedly disqualifies him from sainthood as it would mean he did not peacefully embrace death. However, there is scant evidence to support that he was buried alive or the idea that the Church would have denied him sainthood if they did discover he died in this manner.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: Kempis's 1441 autograph manuscript of "The Imitation of Christ" is available in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels (shelfmark: MS 5455-61).


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: He also wrote the biographies of New Devotion members—Gerard Groote, Floris Radewijns, Jan van de Gronde, and Jan Brinckerinck. His important works include a series of sermons to the novices of St. Augustine Monastery, including "", "Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ", "Of True Compunction of Heart", "Soliloquy of the Soul", "Garden of Roses", "Valley of Lilies", and a "Life" of St. Lidwina of Schiedam.


title: Thomas à Kempis

text: A monument was dedicated to his memory in the presence of the archbishop of Utrecht in St Michael's Church, Zwolle, on November 11, 1897. In 1964, this church closed, causing his shrine to be moved to a new St. Michael's Church outside the centre of Zwolle. In 2005, this church also closed and his shrine was moved to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ten-Hemelopneming kerk (Assumption of Mary church) in the centre of Zwolle.


title: Champurrado

text: Champurrado is a chocolate-based "atole", a warm and thick Mexican beverage. It is prepared with either "masa de maíz" (lime-treated corn dough)," masa harina" (a dried version of this dough), or corn flour (simply very finely ground dried corn, especially local varieties grown for "atole"); "piloncillo"; water or milk; and occasionally containing cinnamon, anise seed, or vanilla. Ground nuts, orange zest, and egg can also be added to thicken and enrich the drink. "Atole" drinks are whipped up using a wooden whisk called a "molinillo". The whisk is rolled between the palms of the hands, then moved back and forth in the mixture until it is aerated and frothy; a blender may also be used.


title: Champurrado

text: Champurrado is traditionally served with "churros" in the morning as a simple breakfast or as a late afternoon snack. Champurrado is also very popular during Day of the Dead and at "Las Posadas" (during the Christmas season), where it is served alongside "tamales". Champurrado may also be made with alcohol.


title: Champurrado

text: Chocolate is native to Mexico, and it was first cultivated by the Mayas and the Aztecs. The Mayans used the cocoa beans in various ceremonies such as marriage and trade. Chocolate beverages date back to 450 BC with the Aztecs. They drank chocolate with corn puree, or masa. These drinks were thought of as magical and upon drinking, would give the drinker power and strength. In the sixteenth century, Spain invaded the Americas numerous times and brought back many items to Spain. One of those items being chocolate. The chocolate was drunk pure and heated. This was a luxury and something only aristocrats could afford as only the very rich could afford prized cocoa beans. Over time, the drink was changed. Early Spanish colonists adapted a beverage created in ancient Aztec times composed of water and masa harina. They changed it by adding sugar, milk, and chocolate.


title: Champurrado

text: Since sugarcane (originally from Southeast Asia) came to the Americas sometime after Europeans did, chocolate was said to have an acquired taste as it comes off as bitter without added sweetener. The Spaniards created a drink consisting of chocolate, vanilla, and other spices which was served chilled. This drink cannot be compared to modern-day hot chocolate as it was very spicy and bitter, contrasting with the modern notion of very sweet, warm chocolate.


title: Champurrado

text: The invention of champurrado shows the adaptation of ancient practices by European colonialists. Upon the production of the drink, special tools like the molinillo were made to assist in the making of the drink which is now also used to make traditional hot chocolate in former Spanish colonies. There are many versions of champurrado in different countries. A unique variant in the Philippines is champorado. Although adapted directly from Mexican champurrado via the Manila galleons, it differs in that it uses whole grains of glutinous rice instead of "masa". Instead of a drink, it is a sweet rice porridge traditionally eaten during cold rainy days and in the Christmas season.


title: Champurrado

text: Many Latin Americans, especially Mexicans, love to enjoy a cup of champurrado around the holidays when the weather tends to get colder. According to most who drink champurrado, it is a delicious beverage and highly differs from hot chocolate according to its taste and texture. The taste of the beverage also varies based on how it was made.


title: Champurrado

text: Champurrado is a type of atole with its main characteristic consisting of chocolate. The difference between traditional hot chocolate and champurrado is the use of "masa harina "(corn flour). Atole is made by toasting masa on a griddle, then adding water that has been boiled with cinnamon sticks. The resulting blends vary in texture, ranging from a porridge to a very thin, liquid consistency. In northern Mexico, a variation is also made using "pinole" (sweetened toasted corn meal). Although atole is one of the traditional drinks of the Mexican holidays Day of the Dead and Las Posadas, it is very common during breakfast and dinner time at any time of year. It is usually sold as street food but can be found in various Latin restaurants. The inclusion of chocolate to the atole gives birth to champurrado.


title: Champurrado

text: There are many different types of recipes to make champurrado. Different states in Mexico for example, use spices to enhance its taste. When going for an authentic champurrado, Mexican chocolate such as the "Abuelita" brand is used, which is very popular in Mexico and can easily be found at local American Latino grocery stores or in "International" aisles. Cooking champurrado in a clay pot is also traditional and brings out the flavor even further.


title: Champurrado

text: Atole and the traditions behind it go back centuries to ancient Mexico. Five to six thousand years ago, archaeological studies in Mexico have shown that they were making atole the same way they are making it today. Atole is a drink made with masa, finely ground corn flour, and only when chocolate is added does it become champurrado.


title: Champurrado

text: "The word 'Atole' is derived from Nahuatl, the still-living language of the Aztecs. Atole was popular long before the arrival of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1521. The Aztec culture have consumed this drink for centuries and that comes to no surprise as atole is one of the easiest ways to consume corn as it was first cultivated in the Americas."


title: Champurrado

text: To create this drink in a traditional way, a kitchen utensil existing since prehistoric times called metate is used: "a piece of porous volcanic rock on three legs tilted for use as grinding surface. The grinding is done by passing back and forth over this surface with an oblong piece of the same material. Throughout history this process was never done by a man. Women kneeled down grinding the corn using the oblong tool and the weight of her body. Grinding the kernels is a slow and tiresome process but comes the masa needed to produce atole and champurrado."


title: Deposition (phase transition)

text: Deposition is the phase transition in which gas transforms into solid without passing through the liquid phase. Deposition is a thermodynamic process. The reverse of deposition is sublimation and hence sometimes deposition is called desublimation.


title: Deposition (phase transition)

text: One example of deposition is the process by which, in sub-freezing air, water vapour changes directly to ice without first becoming a liquid. This is how frost and hoar frost form on the ground or other surfaces. Another example is when frost forms on a leaf. For deposition to occur, thermal energy must be removed from a gas. When the air becomes cold enough, water vapour in the air surrounding the leaf loses enough thermal energy to change into a solid. Even though the air temperature may be below the dew point, the water vapour may not be able to condense spontaneously if there is no way to remove the latent heat. When the leaf is introduced, the supercooled water vapour immediately begins to condense, but by this point is already past the freezing point. This causes the water vapour to change directly into a solid.


title: Deposition (phase transition)

text: Another example is the soot that is deposited on the walls of chimneys. Soot molecules rise from the fire in a hot and gaseous state. When they come into contact with the walls they cool, and change to the solid state, without formation of the liquid state. The process is made use of industrially in combustion chemical vapour deposition.


title: Deposition (phase transition)

text: There is an industrial coatings process, known as evaporative deposition, whereby a solid material is heated to the gaseous state in a low-pressure chamber, the gas molecules travel across the chamber space and then deposit to the solid state on a target surface, forming a smooth and thin layer on the target surface. Again, the molecules do not go through an intermediate liquid state when going from the gas to the solid. See also physical vapor deposition, which is a class of processes used to deposit thin films of various materials onto various surfaces.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Finland is a predominantly Christian nation where 66.6% of the Finnish population of 5.5 million are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Protestant), 30.6% are unaffiliated, 1.1% are Orthodox Christians, 0.9% are other Christians and 0.8% follow other religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, folk religion etc. These statistics do not include, for example, asylum seekers who have not been granted a permanent residence permit.


title: Religion in Finland

text: There are two national churches (as opposed to "state" churches): the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Protestant), which is the primary religion representing 66.6% of the population by the end of 2021, and the Finnish Orthodox Church, to which about 1.1% of the population belongs.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Those who officially belong to one of the two national churches have part of their taxes turned over to their respective church. There are also approximately 45,000 followers of Pentecostal Christianity, and more than 12,000 Catholic Christians in Finland, along with Anglicans, and some various Independent Christian communities. Prior to its Christianisation, beginning in the 11th century, Finnish paganism was the country's primary religion.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Most Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (66.6%). With about 3.7 million members out of a total population of 5.5 million, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland remains one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world, though its membership is declining. In 2015, Eroakirkosta.fi, a website which offers an electronic service for resigning from Finland's national churches, reported that half a million people had resigned their membership in the church since the website was opened in 2003. The number of church members leaving the Church saw a particular large increase during the fall of 2010. This was caused by statements regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage – perceived to be intolerant towards LGBT people – made by a conservative bishop and a politician representing Christian Democrats in a TV debate on the subject. The second largest group – and a rather quickly growing one – of 29.4% by the end of 2020 of the population is non-religious. A small minority belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church (1.1%) and to the Catholic Church (12,434 people or 0.2% of the population).


title: Religion in Finland

text: Other Protestant denominations are significantly smaller, as are the Sikhs, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other non-Christian communities (totaling with the Catholics to about 1.7% of the population).


title: Religion in Finland

text: The main Lutheran and Orthodox churches are constitutional national churches of Finland with special roles in ceremonies and often in school morning prayers. Delegates to Lutheran Church assemblies are selected in church elections every four years.


title: Religion in Finland

text: The majority of Lutherans attend church only for special occasions like Christmas, Easter, weddings and funerals. The Lutheran Church estimates that approximately 2 percent of its members attend church services weekly. The average number of church visits per year by church members is approximately two.


title: Religion in Finland

text: According to Zuckerman (2005), various studies have claimed that 28% of Finns "do not believe in God" and 33 to 60% do not believe in "a personal God".


title: Religion in Finland

text: In 2021, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland had about 3.7 million members, which is 66.6% of the population, registered with a parish. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is an episcopal church, that is governed by bishops, with a very strong tradition of parish autonomy. It comprises nine dioceses with ten bishops and 384 independent parishes. The average parish has 7,000 members, with the smallest parishes comprising only a few hundred members and the largest tens of thousands. In recent years many parishes have united in order to safeguard their viability. In addition, municipal mergers have prompted parochial mergers as there may be only one parish, or cluster of parishes, in a given municipality.


title: Religion in Finland

text: The Finnish Orthodox Church (; ), or Orthodox Church of Finland, is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Church has a legal position as a national church in the country, along with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. With its roots in the medieval Novgorodian missionary work in Karelia, the Finnish Orthodox Church was a part of the Russian Orthodox Church until 1923. Today the church has three dioceses and 60,000 members that account for 1.1 percent of the native population of Finland. The parish of Helsinki has the most adherents.


title: Religion in Finland

text: The Catholic Church in Finland is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. As of 2019 there are more than 14,000 registered Catholics out of the country's population of 5.5 million as well as an estimated 10,000 unregistered Catholics in the country. There are estimated to be more than 6,000 Catholic families in the country, about half native Finns and the rest from international communities. As of 2018 there are only five Finnish-born priests, and only three of them work in Finland. The Bishop of Helsinki is Mgr. Teemu Sippo, appointed on 16 June 2009. He is the first Finn to serve as a Catholic bishop in over 500 years. Currently there are more than 30 priests working in Finland from different countries. Due to the small number of Catholics in Finland, the whole country forms a single diocese, the Catholic Diocese of Helsinki.The Catholic Church in Finland is active in ecumenical matters and is a member of the Finnish Ecumenical Council, even though the worldwide Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Baptists in Finland have existed since the middle of the 19th century and are part of the Baptist branch of Protestant Christianity. They were among the early free churches in Finland. There are three church associations, the Finnish Baptist Church (), Swedish Baptist Union of Finland (), and two congregations belonging to the Seventh Day Baptists. Additionally, there are several independent Baptist churches. The Baptist movement came to Finland from Sweden in the mid-1800s. The Swedish Baptist Union of Finland includes 13 congregations with approximately 1000 members. The Finnish Baptist Church consists of 14 congregations with about 1500 members. The Seventh Day Baptist Fellowship includes two congregations with 35 members. The membership and congregation numbers of the independent Baptist churches are unknown.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Finnish Neopaganism, or the Finnish native faith (: 'Finnish Faith') is the contemporary Neopagan revival of Finnish paganism, the pre-Christian polytheistic ethnic religion of the Finns. A precursor movement was the ('Ukko's Faith', revolving around the god Ukko) of the early 20th century. The main problem in the revival of Finnish paganism is the nature of pre-Christian Finnish culture, which relied on oral tradition and of which very little is left. The primary sources concerning Finnish native culture are written by latter-era Christians. There are two main organisations of the religion, the Association of Finnish Native Religion () based in Helsinki and officially registered since 2002, and the Pole Star Association () headquartered in Turku with branches in many cities, founded and officially registered in 2007. The Association of Finnish Native Religion also caters to Karelians and is a member of the Uralic Communion.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Buddhism in Finland represents a very small percentage of that nation's religious practices. In 2013 there were 5,266 followers of Buddhism in Finland, 0.1% of the population. There are currently 12 Finnish cities that have Buddhist temples: in Helsinki, Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Jyväskylä, Kouvola, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Pori, Salo, Tampere and Turku.


title: Religion in Finland

text: While no statistics on the numbers of Baha'is have been released, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland estimates the 2004 population of Bahá'ís to be approximately 500. Operation World, another Christian organization, estimated 0.01%, also about 500 Bahá'ís, in 2003. In 2005 there was an estimate of 1668 according to the Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia).


title: Religion in Finland

text: Hinduism is a very minor religious faith in Finland. There are estimated to be around 5,000 Hindus in Finland, mostly from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Finland acquired a significant Hindu population for the first time around the turn of the 21st century due to the recruitment of information technology workers from India by companies such as Nokia. In 2009, Hindu leaders in Finland protested the inclusion of a photograph that "denigrates Hinduism" in an exhibit at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum later removed the picture from its website.


title: Religion in Finland

text: The first Muslims were Tatars who immigrated mainly between 1870 and 1920. After that there were decades with generally a small number of immigration in Finland. Since the late 20th century the number of Muslims in Finland has increased rapidly due to immigration.


title: Religion in Finland

text: According to the Finland official census (2021), there are 20,876 people in Finland belonging to registered Muslim communities, representing 0.37% from total population. However, the vast majority of Muslims in Finland do not belong to any registered communities. It is estimated that there are between 120,000 and 130,000 Muslims in Finland (2.3%).


title: Religion in Finland

text: Finnish Jews are Jews who are citizens of Finland. The country is home to approximately 1,000 Jews in 2020, who mostly live in Helsinki. Jews came to Finland as traders and merchants from other parts of Europe. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, about 28 Finnish Jews, mostly Finnish Army veterans, fought for the State of Israel. After Israel's establishment, Finland had a high rate of immigration to Israel (known as "aliyah"), which depleted Finland's Jewish community. The community was somewhat revitalized when some Soviet Jews immigrated to Finland following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The number of Jews in Finland in 2010 was approximately 1,500, of whom 1,200 lived in Helsinki, about 200 in Turku, and about 50 in Tampere. Jews are well integrated into Finnish society and are represented in nearly all sectors. Most Finnish Jews are corporate employees or self-employed professionals. Most Finnish Jews speak Finnish or Swedish as their mother tongue. Yiddish, German, Russian, and Hebrew are also spoken in the community. Jews, like Finland's other traditional minorities as well as immigrant groups, are represented on the advisory board for Ethnic Relations (ETNO).There are two synagogues: one in Helsinki and one in Turku. Helsinki also has a Jewish day school, which serves about 110 students (many of them the children of Israelis working in Finland); and a Chabad Lubavitch rabbi is based there. Tampere previously had an organized Jewish community, but it stopped functioning in 1981. The other two cities continue to run their community organizations.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Traditionally, the church has played a very important role in maintaining a population register in Finland. The vicars have maintained a church record of persons born, married and deceased in their parishes since at least the 1660s, constituting one of the oldest population records in Europe. This system was in place for over 300 years. It was only replaced by a computerised central population database in 1971, while the two national churches continued to maintain population registers in co-operation with the government's local register offices until 1999, when the churches' task was limited to only maintaining a membership register.


title: Religion in Finland

text: Between 1919 and 1970, a separate Civil Register was maintained of those who had no affiliation with either of the national churches. Currently, the centralised Population Information System records the person's affiliation with a legally recognised religious community, if any. In 2003, the new Freedom of Religion Act made it possible to resign from religious communities in writing. That is, by letter, or any written form acceptable to authorities. This is also extended to email by the 2003 electronic communications in the public sector act. Resignation by email became possible in 2005 in most magistrates. Eroakirkosta.fi, an Internet campaign promoting resignation from religious communities, challenged the rest of the magistrates through a letter to the parliamentary ombudsman. In November 2006, the ombudsman recommended that all magistrates should accept resignations from religious communities via email. Despite the recommendation by the ombudsman, the magistrates of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna do not accept church membership resignations sent via the Eroakirkosta.fi service.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake, is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres. Since 1921, the lake has also been known by a much longer name having 45 letters comprising fourteen syllables: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The lake has become famous beyond Central Massachusetts for having the longest name of any geographic feature in all of the United States.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: The lake's name comes from Loup, an Algonquian language, and is often said to mean, "Fishing Place at the Boundaries—Neutral Meeting Grounds". A more fitting translation is "lake divided by islands", according to anthropologist Ives Goddard.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Today, "Webster Lake" may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster) take pride in reeling off the longer versions. This lake has several alternative names. Lake Chaubunagungamaug is the name of the lake as recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and is the name appearing in the earliest local records.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Algonquian-speaking peoples had several different names for the lake as recorded on old maps and historical records. However, all of these were similar in part and had almost the same translation. Among other early names were "Chabanaguncamogue" and "Chaubanagogum". Early town records show the name as "Chabunagungamaug Pond", which was also the name of the local Nipmuc town (recorded in 1668 and 1674 with somewhat different spellings). This has been translated as "boundary fishing place", but something close to "fishing place at the boundary" or "that which is a divided island lake" may be more accurate.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: A 1795 map of Massachusetts indicated the name, using the long-form's first eight syllables, as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg". A survey of the lake done in 1830 lists the name as "Chaubunagungamaugg", the six-syllable older name. The following year, both Dudley and Oxford, which then adjoined the lake, filed maps listing the lake by its eight-syllable form, as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg". Anthropologist Ives Goddard considers that 1831 name to be a cartographer's creation that corrupted the actual name while confusing this lake with nearby Manchaug Pond.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: The exaggerated name "Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg" () is a 45-letter alternative name for this body of fresh water, often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Many area residents, as well as the official website of the town of Webster, consider the longer version correct.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: The humorous translation is: "You fish on your side, I'll fish on my side, and no one shall fish in the middle". Its humorous translation was perhaps invented by Laurence J. Daly, editor of "The Webster Times". According to Ives Goddard, Curator of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, Daly created this "monstrosity" around 1921, though this is probably not correct, as the name was in use as early as c1910 on postcards.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Spellings of the long name vary; in 2009, following six years of press reports, the local Chamber of Commerce agreed to have the spelling changed on its signs, but a 45-letter version of the name arrayed in a semicircle is still used. Webster public schools use one long form of the name in various capacities.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Webster Lake is a lake with a shoreline in southern Massachusetts, near the Connecticut border. It is the third largest fresh body of water in Massachusetts, after slightly larger Long Pond, and the much larger Quabbin Reservoir. The average depth is and the maximum depth is .


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Although the lake is natural in origin, its outlet has a dam that raises the water level by roughly . The dam initially provided water for a mill, and subsequently the water rights to the lake were owned by Cranston Print Works; currently, the dam is owned by Webster Lake Preservation LLC.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: The lake is commonly divided into three smaller bodies of water: North Pond, Middle Pond, and South Pond. They are connected by narrow channels.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Webster Lake has about 7–8 islands. Some have houses and are habitable; a few are extremely small and uninhabitable. They include:


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: In the 1950s, a plan to shorten the official name of the lake inspired a poem of doggerel verse which concludes:


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: Three songs about the lake's name have been written. The first was a regional song from the 1930s. The second, "The Lake Song (Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg)" was recorded by Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger and released in 1954 by Decca and incorporates the tale about the lake's name according to the name's inventor, Laurence J. Daly, editor of "The Webster Times". The most recent was released in 2010 by Diane Taraz.


title: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

text: The lake is referenced in season 6, episode 6 of "Gilmore Girls", "Welcome to the Dollhouse." The character Kirk says, "[It is] an old Nipmuc Indian name. It means you fish on your side of the lake, I'll fish on my side, no one fishes in the middle. Or maybe it means Buffalo."


title: Area code 604

text: Area code 604 is a telephone area code that serves southwestern British Columbia, Canada: the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound / Sea to Sky Corridor, Fraser Valley and the lower Fraser Canyon regions. It primarily serves the city of Vancouver and surrounding regions.


title: Area code 604

text: Area code 604 is one of the original 86 area codes assigned in 1947 in the contiguous United States and the then-nine provinces of Canada. It served the entire province of British Columbia. Until 1988, 604 also included Point Roberts, Washington, a pene-enclave of the United States; Point Roberts was transferred in 1988 to area code 206 and is now served by area code 360.


title: Area code 604

text: Despite British Columbia's growth in the second half of the 20th century, 604 remained the province's sole area code for nearly 50 years. By the mid-1990s, however, the need for a new area code in the province could no longer be staved off, largely because of Canada's number allocation system. Every competitive local exchange carrier in the country is allocated blocks of 10,000 numbers, corresponding to a single three-digit prefix, for every rate centre in which it offers service, even for the smallest hamlets.


title: Area code 604

text: While smaller rate centres usually do not need that many numbers, once a number is assigned to a carrier and rate centre, it cannot be moved elsewhere, even to a larger rate centre. Additionally, some larger cities are split between multiple rate centres that have never been amalgamated. That resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, and the growing popularity of cell phones, pagers and fax machines has only exacerbated that problem. The number shortage was particularly severe in the Lower Mainland, which was home to most of the province's landlines and most of its other telecommunications devices requiring phone numbers.


title: Area code 604

text: In 1997, 604 was cut back to the Lower Mainland, with the new area code 250 created for the remainder of the province.


title: Area code 604

text: The 1997 split was intended as a long-term solution for the Lower Mainland. However, within three years, 604 was close to exhaustion, once again because of the aforementioned number allocation problem and the continued proliferation of cell phones and pagers. Numbers tended to be used up fairly quickly in Vancouver and its immediate neighbours because of their rapid growth, but the number allocation problem was still severe in the Lower Mainland as a whole.


title: Area code 604

text: On November 3, 2001, area code 778 was implemented as a concentrated overlay for the two largest regional districts in the Lower Mainland, Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Regional District. The experiment was announced in NANP planning letter PL-246. The remainder of the Lower Mainland continued to use only 604, but the addition of area code 778 required the implementation of ten-digit dialling throughout the region.


title: Area code 604

text: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced on June 7, 2007 that 778 would become an overlay for the entire province on July 4, 2007 after the same number allocation problem that had afflicted 604 was bringing 250 close to exhaustion. Effective June 23, 2008, ten-digit dialling became mandatory in British Columbia, and attempts to make a seven-digit call triggered an intercept message with a reminder of the new rule. After September 12, 2008, seven-digit dialling was no longer functional. Overlays have become the preferred method of relief in Canada, as they offer an easy workaround for the number allocation problem.


title: Area code 604

text: The incumbent local exchange carrier in 604 and 778 is Telus. Through "number portability" and sub-allocation of all numbers in some exchanges to a competitor, many numbers in the 778 area code are now serviced by Shaw Cablesystems.


title: Area code 604

text: On June 1, 2013, area code 236 was implemented as a distributed overlay of area codes 604, 250, and 778 and was expected to be exhausted in May 2020. As a result, area code 672 was implemented as an additional distributed overlay on May 4, 2019 to relieve area codes 604, 250, 778, and 236.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of the genus Polemaetus. A species of the booted eagle subfamily (Aquilinae), it has feathering over its tarsus. One of the largest and most powerful species of booted eagle, it is a fairly opportunistic predator that varies its prey selection between mammals, birds and reptiles. It is one of few eagle species known to hunt primarily from a high soar, by stooping on its quarry. An inhabitant of wooded belts of otherwise open savanna, this species has shown a precipitous decline in the last few centuries due to a variety of factors. The martial eagle is one of the most persecuted bird species in the world. Due to its habit of taking livestock and regionally valuable game, local farmers and game wardens frequently seek to eliminate martial eagles, although the effect of eagles on this prey is almost certainly considerably exaggerated. Currently, the martial eagle is classified with the status of Endangered by the IUCN.""


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle can be found in most of sub-Saharan Africa, wherever food is abundant and the environment favourable. With a total estimated distribution of about , it has a substantial distribution across Africa, giving it a somewhat broader range than other species there like the crowned eagle ("Stephanoaetus coronatus") and the Verreaux's eagle ("Aquila verreauxii"). Although never common, greater population densities do exist in southern Africa and in some parts of east Africa. Martial eagles tend to be rare and irregular in west Africa but are known to reside in Senegal, The Gambia and northern Guinea-Bissau, southern Mali and the northern portions of Ivory Coast and Ghana. From southern Niger and eastern Nigeria the species is distributed spottily through Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic as well as the northern, eastern, and southern portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In east Africa, they range from Somaliland and Ethiopia more or less continuously south through Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and in southern Africa from Angola, Zambia, Malawi and southern Mozambique to South Africa. Some of the larger remaining populations are known to persist in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Generally, these birds are more abundant in protected areas such as Kruger National Park and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa, or Etosha National Park in Namibia.


title: Martial eagle

text: The Accipitridae family (hereafter accipitrids) is by far the most diverse family of diurnal raptors in the world, with more than 230 currently accepted species. As a member of the booted eagle subfamily, Aquilinae, the martial eagle is one of the roughly 15% of extant species in the family to have feathers covering its legs. This helps distinguish these species from other eagles and raptors, as they are present even in tropical species such as the martial eagle. Under current classifications, booted eagles consist of approximately 38 living species that are distributed in every continent inhabited by the accipitrids, which excludes only the continent of Antarctica. Just under half of the living species of booted eagle are found in Africa. Studies have been conducted on the mitochondrial DNA of most booted eagle species, including the martial eagle, to gain insight on how the subfamily is ordered and which species bear relation to one another. DNA testing in the 1980s indicated the martial eagle was a specialized off-shoot of the small-bodied "Hieraaetus" eagles, and one study went so far as to advocate that the martial eagle be included in the genus. However, more modern and comprehensive genetic testing has shown that the martial eagle is distinct from other living booted eagles and diverged from other extant genera several million years ago. Genetically, the martial eagle fell between two other species in monotypical genera, the African long-crested eagle ("Lophaetus occipitalis") and the Asian rufous-bellied eagle ("Lophotriorchis kienerii"), that similarly diverged long ago from other modern species. Given the disparity of this species’ unique morphology and that the two aforementioned most closely related living species are only about as large as the bigger buzzards, the unique heritage of the martial eagle is evident.


title: Martial eagle

text: There are no subspecies of martial eagle, and the species varies little in appearance and genetic diversity across its distribution.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle is a very large eagle. In total length, it can range from , with an average of approximately . Its total length – in comparison to its wingspan – is restricted by its relatively short tail. Nonetheless, it appears to be the sixth or seventh longest extant eagle species. The wingspan of martial eagles can range from . Wingspans of as much as have been reported but may be unsubstantiated. Average wingspans have been claimed of and for the species, however ten measured martial eagles in the wild were found to average in wingspan. Thus, the martial eagle appears to average fourth in wingspan among living eagles, behind only the Steller's sea-eagle ("Haliaeetus pelagicus"), the white-tailed eagle ("Haliaeetus albicilla") and the wedge-tailed eagle ("Aquila audax"), in roughly that order. For a species that is fairly homogeneous in its genetic make-up, the body mass of martial eagles is surprisingly variable. To some extent, the variation of body masses in the species is attributable to considerable reverse sexual dimorphism as well as varying environmental conditions of various eagle populations. Unsexed martial eagles from various studies have been found to have weighed an average of in 17 birds, in 20 birds and in 20 birds while the average weight of martial eagles shot by game wardens in the early 20th century in South Africa was listed as . In weight range, the martial eagle broadly overlaps in size with the golden eagle ("Aquila chrysaetos") and Verreaux's eagle (and is even exceeded by them in maximum known body mass). Based on numerous studies, the martial eagle appear to average mildly heavier than the Verreaux's eagle but (derived from the globally combined body mass of its various races), the mean body masses of golden and martial eagles are identical at approximately . The renders the golden and martial eagles as tied as the largest African eagles (by body mass but not in total length or wingspan, in which the martial bests the golden), as well as the heaviest two species of booted eagle in the world and as tied as the sixth heaviest eagles in the world, after the three largest species of sea eagle (Steller's being the heaviest extant, the others ranking 4th and 5th), the harpy eagle ("Harpia harpyja") and the Philippine eagle ("Pithecophaga jefferyi"). The longest African eagle (and second longest booted eagle after the wedge-tailed eagle ("Aquila audax")) is the crowned eagle by virtue of its relatively longer tail, as its body weight is slightly less than these three heaviest booted eagle species.


title: Martial eagle

text: Martial eagles are highly sexually dimorphic. While females average about 10% larger in linear dimension, in body mass, the sexual dimorphism of martial eagles is more pronounced. Males reportedly can weigh from . Seven males in southern Africa averaged and five in another dataset averaged . Twelve adult males in Maasai Mara, Kenya averaged . Meanwhile, females can weigh from . In southern Africa, seven females averaging . Elsewhere, a claim was made of an average of almost certainly describes a sample entirely of female specimens. In the Maasai Mara, 7 females averaged . Reports of males weighing as much as and females weighing as little as are known but may possibly represent individual eagles misidentified by sex, which is reportedly not infrequent due to mistakes in the field. Thus the dimorphism by weight is roughly 36% in favor of the female, which is unusually out-of-sync with the linear differences between the sexes. For example, the greater spotted eagle ("Clanga clanga"), the most sexually dimorphic booted eagle overall with a linear difference between the sexes of 20%, has around the same level of sexual dimorphism by body mass as the martial eagle which show about half as much linear dimorphism. In standard measurements, male martial eagles measure in wing chord size, in tail length and in tarsus length. Meanwhile, females measure in wing chord, in tail length and tarsal length. Overall, the bulk and much more massive proportions of females, which include more robust feet and longer tarsi, may at times allow experienced observers to sex lone birds in the wild.


title: Martial eagle

text: The adult's plumage consists of dark brown coloration on the upperparts, head and upper chest, with an occasional slightly lighter edging to these feathers. The dark feathers can appear grayish, blackish or even plum-colored depending on lighting conditions. The body underparts are feathered white with sparse but conspicuous blackish-brown spotting. The underwing coverts are dark brown, with the remiges being pale streaked with black, overall imparting the wings of adults a dark look. The underside of the tail has similar barring as the remiges while the upperside is the same uniform brown as the back and upperwing coverts. The eyes of mature martial eagles are rich yellow, while the cere and large feet pale greenish and the talons black. Martial eagles have a short erectile crest, which is typically neither prominent nor flared (unlike that of the crowned eagle) and generally appears as an angular back to a seemingly flat head. This species often perches in a quite upright position, with its long wings completely covering the tail, causing it be described as “standing” rather than “sitting” on a branch when perched. In flight, martial eagles bear long broad wings with relatively narrow rounded tips that can appear pointed at times depending on how the eagle is holding its wings. It is capable of flexible beats with gliding on flattish wings, or slightly raised in a dihedral. This species often spends a large portion of the day on the wing, more so than probably any other African eagles, and often at a great height. Juvenile martial eagles are conspicuously distinct in plumage with a pearly gray colour above with considerable white edging, as well as a speckled grey effect on crown and hind neck. The entire underside is conspicuously white. The wing coverts of juveniles are mottled grey-brown and white, with patterns of bars on primaries and tail that are similar to adult but lighter and greyer. In the fourth or fifth years, a very gradual increase to brownish feather speckling is noted but the back and crown remain a fairly pale grey. At this age, there may be increasing spots on throat and chest which coalesce into a gorget and some spots on abdomen may variably manifest as well. The eyes of juveniles are dark brown. This species reaches adult plumage by its seventh year with the transition to adult plumage happening quite rapidly after many years in a little-changing juvenile plumage.


title: Martial eagle

text: There are few serious identification challenges for the species. The black-chested snake eagle ("Circaetus pectoralis") is similar in overall colouring (despite its name it is brown on the chest and the back, being no darker than the adult martial eagle) to martial eagles but is markedly smaller, with a more prominent, rounded head with large eyes, plain, spotless abdomen, bare and whitish legs. In flight, the profile of the snake eagle is quite different, with nearly white (rather than dark brown) flight feathers and much smaller, narrower wings and a relatively larger tail. For juveniles, the main source for potential confusion is the juvenile crowned eagle, which also regularly perches in an erect position. The proportions of crowned eagles are quite distinct from martial eagles as they have much shorter wings and a distinctly longer tail. The juvenile crowned eagle has a whiter head, more scaled back, and spotted thighs and legs lacking in the martial eagle. Beyond their distinct flight profile by wing and tail proportions, crowned eagles have whiter and more obviously banded flight-feathers and tail. Other large immature eagles in Africa tend to be much darker and more heavily marked both above and below than martial eagles.


title: Martial eagle

text: Martial eagles have been noted as remarkable for their extremely keen eyesight (3.0–3.6 times human acuity), partly due to their eye being nearly as large as a human's eye. Due to this power, they can spot potential prey from a great distance, having been known to be able to spot prey from as far as away. Their visual acuity may rival some eagles from the genus "Aquila" and some of the larger falcons as the greatest of all diurnal raptors. The talons of martial eagles are impressive and can approach the size, especially in mature females, of those of the crowned eagle despite their slenderer metatarsus and toes compared to the crowned species. Accipitrids usually kill their prey with an elongated, sharp hind toe claw, which is referred to as the hallux claw and is reliably the largest talon in members of the accipitrid family. The average length of the hallux claw in unsexed martial eagles from Tsavo East National Park, Kenya was found to be . In comparison, the average hallux claw of a large sample of golden eagles was similar at . Meanwhile, the three largest clawed modern eagles were found to measure as such: in small samples, the Philippine eagle and crowned eagle had an average hallux claw length of and , respectively, and harpy eagles have an average hallux claw length of approximately . A further sample of martial eagles averaged in 6 males and in 7 females, with the median between the sexes being , these being the largest talons of all booted eagles behind only the crowned eagle. The inner claw on the front of the foot of the martial eagle is especially sizeable proportional to other extremities and unusually can approach, if not reach, the same size as the hallux claw. This inner claw was found to average , in comparison to that of the crowned eagle which measures . The tarsus is quite long in martial eagles, the fourth longest of any living eagle and the longest of any booted eagle species, seemingly an adaptation to prey capture in long grass, including potentially dangerous prey. The bill is of medium size relative to that of other large eagles, with a mean culmen length from Tsavo East of . The bill is larger than the average bill of the large members of the genus "Aquila" but is notably smaller than those of the large species of sea eagle and the Philippine eagle. The gape size of martial eagles is relatively large, however, being proportionally larger than in other booted eagle species behind (albeit considerably behind) the Indian spotted eagle ("Clanga hastata") and the steppe eagle ("Aquila nipalensis") in relative gape size, indicating a relative specialization towards swallowing large prey whole.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle is a weak and infrequent vocaliser. Little vocal activity has been reported even during the breeding season. The recorded contact call between pair-members consists of the birds, usually when perched, letting out a low mellow whistle, '. More or less the same vocalisation is known to have been uttered by females when male brings food and repeated mildly by large begging young. During territorial aerial display and sometimes when perched, adults may utter a loud, trilling '. The territorial call may be heard from some distance. Recent fledglings also at times make this call. A soft "" may be heard, made by pairs around their nest, perhaps being a mutual contact call. In comparison, the crowned eagle is highly vocal especially in the context of breeding.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle is to some degree adaptable to varied habitats but shows an overall preference for open woods and woodland edges, wooded savannah and thornbush habitats. The martial eagle has been recorded at elevations of up to but is not a true mountain dwelling species and resident eagles do not usually exceed an elevation of . These eagles also avoid closed-canopy forests and hyper-arid desert. As such it is mostly absent from Guinean and Congolian forests, despite the species’ requirement for large trees for nesting purposes. It is shown that martial eagles can inhabit forests locally in areas where openings occur. For example, in a bird atlas for the country of Kenya, perhaps surprisingly, 88% of martial eagles were found to reside in well-wooded areas and they occurred in areas where annual rainfall exceeded . In southern Africa, they have adapted to seemingly more open habitats than elsewhere in their range, such as semi-desert and open savanna with scattered trees, wooded hillocks and, as a recent adaptation, around pylons. In the desert areas of Namibia, they utilize ephemeral rivers that flow occasionally and allow large trees to grow. They usually seem to prefer desolate or protected areas. In the Karoo of South Africa, they consistently avoid areas with moderate to heavy cultivation or with heavier or more consistent winter rainfall. One study on the occurrence of diurnal raptors in protected areas against unprotected areas found that martial eagle detection was nearly twice as frequent in protected areas during the dry season and more than three times as frequent during the wet season than in unprotected areas.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle spends an exceptional amount of the time in the air, often soaring about hill slopes high enough that binoculars are often needed to perceive them. When not breeding, both mature eagles from a breeding pair may be found roosting on their own in some prominent tree up to several miles from their nesting haunt, probably hunting for several days in one area, until viable prey resources are exhausted, and then moving on to another area. However, martial eagles, especially adult birds, are typically devoted to less disturbed areas, both due to these typically offering more extensive prey selection and their apparent dislike for a considerable human presence. Martial eagles tend to be very solitary and are not known to tolerate others of the own species in the area outside of the pair during the breeding season. In general this species is more shy towards humans than other big eagles of Africa, but may be seen passing over populated country at times. The most frequently seen type of martial eagle away from traditional habitats are presumed nomadic subadults. One individual that was ringed as subadult was recovered 5.5 years later away from the initial banding site. Another martial eagle ringed as a nestling was found to have moved in 11 months.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle is one of the world's most powerful avian predators. Due to both its underside spotting and ferocious efficiency as a predator it is sometimes nicknamed “the leopard of the air”. The martial eagle is an apex predator, being at the top of the avian food chain in its environment. In its common, scientific and most regional African names, this species name means “war-like” and indicates the force, brashness and indefatigable nature of their hunting habits. The aggressiveness of the hunting martial eagle, which may rival that of the overall behaviorally bolder crowned eagle, can seem incongruous with their other behaviours, as it otherwise is considered a shy, wary and evasive bird. Martial eagles have been seen to charge at much larger adult ungulates and rake at their heads and flanks, at times presumably to separate the mammals from their young so they can take the latter with more ease. At other times, these eagles will set down upon a wide range of potentially dangerous prey including other aggressive predators in broad daylight, such as monitor lizards, venomous snakes, jackals and medium-sized wild cats. Adult eagles tend to hunt larger, potentially dangerous prey more often than immature ones, presumably as they refine their hunting skills with maturity. The martial eagle hunts mostly in flight, circling at a great height anywhere in its home range. When prey is perceived with their superb vision, the hunting eagle then stoops sharply to catch its prey by surprise with the prey often being unable to perceive the eagle at nearly as far as the eagle can perceive them despite often being in the open. The martial eagle tends to hunt in a long, shallow stoop; however, when the quarry is seen in a more enclosed space, it parachutes down at a steeper angle. The speed of descent is controlled by the angle at which the wings are held above the back. At the point of impact, it shoots its long legs forward, often killing victims on impact, somewhat as large falcons often dispatch their prey. Prey may often be spotted from away with a record of about . On occasion, they may still-hunt from a high perch or concealed in vegetation near watering holes. If the initial attempt fails, they may swoop around to attempt again, especially if the intended victim is not dangerous. If the quarry is potentially hazardous, such as mammalian carnivores, venomous snakes or large ungulates, and becomes aware of the eagle too soon, the eagle tends to abandon the hunt. Unusually for a bird of its size, it may rarely hover while hunting. This hunting method may be employed particularly if the quarry is any of the aforementioned potentially dangerous prey items such as venomous snakes or carnivores. Other large eagles may similarly (if infrequently) hover over prey such as canids and then quickly drop onto if the quarry makes the mistake of pointing its dangerous mouth downwards, then gripping its victim on the back while controlling the neck with the other foot until blood loss is sufficient to kill the prey. Prey, including birds, are generally killed on the ground, with infrequent reports of prey taken from trees. Some larger (and presumably slower-flying) avian prey may be taken while in flight; victims of successful hunts have consisted of water birds such as herons, storks and geese. If kills are too large and heavy to carry in flight, both members of a pair may return to the kill over several days, probably roosting nearby. If nesting, the pair tends to dismember pieces of large kills such as limbs to bring to the nest. Much of the large prey, perhaps most, that is left on the ground is lost to scavengers.


title: Martial eagle

text: The diet of the martial eagle varies greatly with prey availability and can be dictated largely by opportunity. Remarkably, mammals, birds and reptiles can in turn dominate the prey selection of martial eagles in a given area, with no one prey type globally dominating their prey spectrum. In some areas, both mammals and birds can each comprise more than 80% of the prey selection. Over 170 prey species have been reported for the martial eagle which is a much higher number than the full prey spectrum of other larger African booted eagles, and even this may neglect some of the prey they take in the little studied populations from west and central Africa and the northern part of east Africa. Prey may vary considerably in size but for the most part, prey weighing less than are ignored by hunting martial eagles, with only about 15% of the known prey species averaging less than this. A majority of studies report the average size of prey for martial eagles being between . Average weight of prey taken has been reported at as low as . A food study largely based in data from the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, as well as from Maasai Mara, did reinforce a mean prey mass of just over for the species. However, the mean prey body mass is considerably higher in other known dietary studies. In by far the largest dietary study thus far conducted for the martial eagle species (in the Cape Province, South Africa) the estimated mean prey body mass was approximately . In Tsavo East National Park of Kenya, the mean estimated body mass of prey was quite similar at approximately . Average prey weights in a study of the Maasai Mara was seemingly even higher, at a median between the average prey sizes for each sex of martial eagle at approximately . Despite perhaps a majority of prey for this species weighing less than , martial eagles regular prey size range is claimed at up to . There is some evidence of prey partitioning (which can be potentially delineated both by prey species and body size of prey items taken) between the sexes. This is typical of raptors with pronounced size sexual dimorphism, as is the case in martial eagles. For instance, in populations where large adult monitor lizards are significant as prey, they only start to appear in prey remains at nests only after the female resumes hunting in the latter part of the breeding season. The species was the focus for a study using web sourced photography to explore the species' diet across its African range, this study revealed new insight into difference in prey composition between regions, and also revealed differences in prey composition between adult and sub-adult birds, with adults found to prey more frequently on bird prey than sub-adults. The sexual dimorphism of kills was verified in studies from the Great Rift Valley and Maasai Mara. One study stated that the mean weight of male kills was and that of females was . In Maasai Mara, the mean prey was significantly higher for both males, at about , and for females, at about .


title: Martial eagle

text: The most diverse class of prey in the diet as known are mammals, with over 90 mammalian prey species reported. In the Cape Province, the cape hare ("Lepus capensis") reportedly dominates the prey selection, comprising about 53% of the foods selected. Other lagomorphs, namely the slightly smaller Smith's red rock hare ("Pronolagus rupestris"), mildly larger African savanna hare ("Lepus microtis") and the much larger scrub hare ("Lepus saxatilis"), are not infrequently taken both in and outside of the Cape area. In Maasai Mara, the most regularly identified food, at 17.3% of 191 prey items (and particularly for male martial eagles at 23.9% of their kills), was found to be comprised by a mixture of cape and scrub hares, these in total weighing an estimated mean of . For the most part rodents are ignored as prey as they are probably too small despite martial eagles taking at times appreciable numbers of Cape ("Xerus inauris") and unstriped ground squirrels ("Xerus rutilus"). However, rodents selected as prey have ranged in size from the Southern African vlei rat ("Otomys irroratus") to the South African springhare ("Pedetes capensis") and the greater cane rat ("Thryonomys swinderianus"). There are records of predation on (the second largest African bat) straw-coloured fruit bats ("Eidolon helvum") and galagos of various sizes (usually weighing a kilo or less) but otherwise mammalian prey they pursue tends to be relatively larger.


title: Martial eagle

text: Locally, large numbers are taken of any species of hyrax. The attractiveness of hyraxes as a prey resource may encourage martial eagles to vary their hunting techniques to potentially more time-consuming perch hunting so that they may capture rock hyraxes from rock formations and tree hyraxes from trees, contrary to their usual preference for capturing prey on the ground in the open after soaring high. Ranging in average mass from , hyraxes can comprise a healthy meal for a family of martial eagle and are probably among the larger items that male eagles will regularly deliver to nests. Another miscellaneous mammal known to fall prey to martial eagles is the ground pangolin ("Smutsia temminckii"), although it is not clear the age pangolins that are preyed on and how they are dispatched, considering that adults weigh some and have a hard keratin shell that is capable of withstanding lion ("Panthera leo") jaws when in its rolled-up defensive posture.


title: Martial eagle

text: Although far less accomplished and prolific as a predator of monkeys than the crowned eagle, the martial eagle has been known to prey on at least 14 species of monkey. The monkeys to turn up most often as martial eagle prey are grivets ("Chlorocebus aethiops"), vervet monkeys ("Chlorocebus pygerythrus") and malbroucks ("Chlorocebus cynosuros"), with mean body masses of , and , respectively, because of their savanna-woods dwelling habits, tendencies to forage on the ground and their primarily diurnal activity. These monkey species have special alarm calls, distinct from those uttered in response to the presence of for example a leopard ("Panthera pardus"), specifically for martial eagles. Martial eagles are also known to prey on lesser spot-nosed monkeys ("Cercopithecus petaurista"), Lowe's mona monkeys ("Cercopithecus lowei"), Tana River mangabeys ("Cercocebus galeritus"), and possibly larger red colobus ("colobus badius"). Predatory attacks on juvenile baboons ("Papio sp.") by martial eagles have been reported, especially olive baboons ("Papio anubis"). On at least one occasion, this species has attacked humans with apparently predatory intent, making it one of the only birds of prey to do so. In 2019 a young boy was killed and two other children injured by an immature martial eagle in the Ethiopian town of Gaashaamo.


title: Martial eagle

text: Carnivores are important prey for martial eagles. Among these many mongoose tend to be well represented in their diet. Most mongooses native to the savanna tend to be highly social burrowers. Most of these types of mongoose are also relatively small (probably the second smallest important martial eagle food source after korhaans) and can effectively escape quickly to the safety of their underground home, so the lighter, more nimble male martial eagle is more likely to habitually pursue them. In southern Africa, the meerkat ("Suricata suricatta") comprises up to at least 9.6% of prey remains (as in the Cape Province) and the Cape grey mongoose ("Galerella pulverulenta") comprising an average of 7.2% of prey remains in the Cape area. The largest of the social savanna-dwelling mongoose is the banded mongoose at . In pooled data from the Great Rift Valley and Maasai Mara, the banded mongoose fell third behind only francolins and hares as the most regularly selected prey for martial eagles. Despite often being successful in capturing banded mongoose, in one case when a (presumably inexperienced) immature martial eagle took one to a tree, the dominant male banded mongoose of the group scaled the tree and pulled the still-living mongoose prey to safety. The martial eagle is a known predator of the full size range of mongoose species, from the smallest species, the common dwarf mongoose ("Helogale parvula"), to the largest, the white-tailed mongoose ("Ichneumia albicauda"). Other moderate-sized carnivores known to fall prey to martial eagles include striped polecat ("Ictonyx striatus") and a few species of genet, which are about twice as heavy on average as the polecat. The martial eagle, however, can be a surprisingly effective predator of carnivorans close to their own size or larger. In the Cape Province, 72 bat-eared foxes ("Otocyon megalotis"), which average about , were found in the prey remains, 85% of which were adults. Jackals are occasionally targeted as prey, especially black-backed jackals ("Canis mesomelas"). Adult domestic dogs ("Canis familiaris") of up to a modest size may occasionally be killed by martial eagles. Martial eagles are also known to opportunistically grab pups of African wild dogs ("Lycaon pictus") as they emerge from their dens. A similarly impressive range of felids have been included in their prey spectrum. Adults of both domestic cats and their ancestors, the African wildcat ("Felis lybica"), are known to fall prey to this species. Much larger cat species such as the servals ("Leptailurus serval") and even the caracals ("Caracal caracal") are taken, mainly kittens and even adults. Apparent predatory attacks are even attempted on big cat cubs as they are considered potential predators of lion and leopard ("Panthera pardus") cubs and confirmed predators of cheetah ("Acinonyx jubatus") cubs. However, they rapidly abandon hunting attempts if the formidable mother lion or leopard is present. Successful predatory attacks on other large carnivores have included adults of the African civet ("Civettictis civetta") and the aardwolf ("Proteles cristata").


title: Martial eagle

text: While large accipitrids from around the world are credited with attacks on (almost always young) ungulates, perhaps no other species is as accomplished in this regard as this martial eagle. Over 30 species of ungulate have been identified as prey for this species, more species than are attributed to the perhaps more powerful crowned eagles and all the world's golden eagles, although in all three seldom ungulates in a given region comprise more than 30% of the diet. In Kruger National Park, the martial eagle is mentioned as the only bird considered as a major predator of ungulate species. A majority of the ungulate diet of martial eagles are comprised by small antelope species or the young of larger antelopes. Locally favored prey are the dik-diks, one of the smallest kinds of antelope, and every known species may be vulnerable to this eagle. In Tsavo East National Park, Kirk's dik-dik ("Madoqua kirkii") were the second most numerous prey species and it was estimated that at least 86 dik-diks are taken in the park over the course of the year by two pairs of martial eagles. At an average of , these can provide a very fulfilling meal for an eagle family. In Maasai Mara, young ungulates appeared particularly significant in the diet of adult female martial eagles, with impala fawns averaging an estimated comprising 34.2% of female kills (and 13.6% of the species' overall foods) and Thomson's gazelle fawns at about comprising a further 15.1% of female kills (and 10.5% of the overall diet here). Furthermore, young Grant's gazelles, weighing a mean of , were sometimes taken by females in Maasai Mara. Calves, including neonatal young, of the following antelope may also be included in their prey spectrum: impala ("Aepyceros melampus"), hartebeest ("Alcelaphus buselaphus"), bontebok ("Damaliscus pygargus"), common tsessebe ("Damaliscus lunatus"), springbok ("Antidorcas marsupialis"), "Eudorcas" gazelles, gerenuk ("Litocranius walleri"), bushbuck ("Tragelaphus sylvaticus"), grey rhebok ("Pelea capreolus"), kob ("Kobus kob") and mountain reedbuck ("Redunca arundinum"). These species can vary in weight from (i.e. gazelles) to (i.e. tsessebe) in newborns. For the newborn impala, weighing already , the martial eagle is the only bird considered to be a significant predator. Additionally, piglets of warthogs ("Phacochoerus africanus") (of which only the martial eagle among accipitrids is similarly mentioned as a significant predator) and bushpigs ("Potamochoerus larvatus") are taken. Adults of other small antelope such as suni ("Neotragus moschatus") and blue duikers ("Philantomba monticola") are probably also taken with relative ease. In general, the young of other antelope are usually attacked, including newborns. Occasional ambush attacks or successful predations are reported on adults of much larger species despite young ones being rather more vulnerable, including klipspringers ("Oreotragus oreotragus"), steenboks ("Raphicerus campestris"), both species of grysbok ( on average), oribis ("Ourebia ourebi") and perhaps up to half a dozen larger duikers, potentially weighing from . One duiker dispatched via strangulation weighed an estimated , one of the largest known raptorial kill for any species on the African continent.


title: Martial eagle

text: Among extant birds of prey, only wedge-tailed eagles, reportedly capable of killing sheep and female red kangaroos ("Macropus rufus") weighing up to , crowned eagles taking antelope of the same estimated weight and golden eagles, credited with taking adult female deer of several species with weights estimated at , and capable of apparently dispatching domestic calves weighing up to , have larger kills attributed to them.


title: Martial eagle

text: Compared to the range and sizes of mammals included in their prey spectrum, birds taken by martial eagles may seem less impressive as a whole, but the morphology of the martial eagle, including large wing surface areas, pronounced sexual dimorphism and relatively long toes, shows that the species is at least partially specialized to hunt avian prey. Birds are universally considered by biologists more difficult to capture than mammals of the same size. In all, more than 50 bird species have been identified as the prey of martial eagles. The most significant portion of the avian diet is comprised by medium-sized terrestrial upland birds such as guineafowl, spurfowl, francolins and bustards. In total more than a dozen species of the galliform order and the bustard family each have been identified as their prey. When attacking these ground-loving birds, which are understandably quite easily spooked and usually react to potential danger by flying off, martial eagles almost always try to take them on the ground much like they do mammalian prey. If the birds take flight, the hunting attempt will fail, although a hunting eagle may try to surprise the same birds again. In Niger, the most numerous prey species is apparently the helmeted guineafowl ("Numida meleagris"). Other guineafowl such as the vulturine ("Acryllium vulturinum") and crested guineafowl ("Guttera edouardi") are also readily taken elsewhere. Guineafowl and spurfowl were stated as the most numerous prey for martial eagles in Kruger National Park. In Tsavo East National Park, the red-crested korhaan ("Lophotis ruficrista"), perhaps the smallest bustard the eagle hunts, is the most numerous prey taken, comprising about 39% of the prey remains. In the Great Rift Valley and Maasai Mara data, the Coqui francolin ("Peliperdix coqui") was reportedly the most regularly identified prey and, in separate studies, helmeted guineafowl averaging made up 12% of the foods in Maasai Mara. Medium-sized bustards such as the Hartlaub's bustard ("Lissotis hartlaubii") and the karoo korhaan ("Eupodotis vigorsii") were oft-taken supplemental prey in Tsavo East and the Cape Province, respectively. Although these are not usually taken in large numbers, martial eagles are one of the main predators of larger bustards. These may include (averaged between the extremely size dimorphic sexes) the Ludwig's bustard ("Neotis ludwigii"), the Denham's bustard ("Neotis denhami") and even the kori bustard ("Ardeotis kori"), seemingly the heaviest bustard in the world on average at , the average estimated weight of 13 kori bustard kills being . Attacks on adult male kori bustards, which are certain to be the largest avian prey attacked by martial eagles and are twice as heavy as females, averaging some , can be extremely prolonged. One protracted battle resulted in an injured leg for the eagle and massive, fatal blood loss for the male bustard, which was ultimately scavenged by a jackal by the following morning.


title: Martial eagle

text: Despite its preference for ground-dwelling avian prey, a surprisingly considerable number of water birds may also be attacked. Waterfowl known to be attacked include the South African shelduck ("Tadorna cana"), yellow-billed duck ("Anas undulata"), the spur-winged goose ("Plectropterus gambensis") (Africa's largest waterfowl species) and especially the peculiar, overly bold and aggressive Egyptian goose ("Alopochen aegyptiaca"), which is one of the main prey species for martial eagles in Kruger National Park. Based on the high estimated weight when taken of Egyptian goose of , male geese may be targeted over females. Larger wading birds are also fairly frequently attacked including herons and egrets, flamingoes storks, ibises, spoonbills and cranes. The diversity and number of storks taken is particularly impressive. They are known to take 8 species of stork, ranging from the smallest known species, the African openbill ("Anastomus lamelligerus"), to the tallest species in the world, the , -tall saddle-billed stork ("Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis"). One naturalists observed up to a half dozen attacks in different parts of Africa on white storks ("Ciconia ciconia"). Short of three attacks on spotted thick-knees ("Burhinus capensis"), which weigh about , and smaller still crowned lapwings ("Vanellus coronatus") so far as is known small waders or shorebirds are ignored as prey. Other assorted avian prey may consists of ostrich ("Struthio camelus") chicks weighing an estimated mean of , frequently resulting in the immediate ire of protective ostrich parents. Further avian prey may extent to sandgrouse, pigeons and doves, hornbills and crows. Beyond occasional captures of other birds of prey (covered later), one other impressive avian prey species is the southern ground hornbill ("Bucorvus leadbeateri"), which at is probably the world's largest hornbill. At the other end of the scale, some martial eagles may capture a few small social species of passerine, which are exceptionally small prey (the smallest recorded prey species for the eagle overall), potentially consisting of the red-billed queleas ("Quelea quelea") and the sociable weavers ("Philetairus socius"), as practically every meat-eating bird in Africa may be attracted to these species’ colonial abundance.


title: Martial eagle

text: Reptiles can be locally important in the diet, and they are known to take larger numbers of reptiles than other large African booted eagles. Only relatively large reptiles, it seems, are attacked and many of this prey is also potentially dangerous, so martial eagles have unusually long, gracile tarsi, perhaps an adaptation to dangerous large reptilian prey. Based on the photographic analysis, reptilian prey, predominately adult monitors comprise 21% of the total 239 prey items. In particular, in the former Transvaal province of northeastern South Africa, reptiles were the main prey, with monitor lizards alone comprising just under half of the prey remains. A small food study in Zimbabwe found that 69% of 39 prey items were made up of monitor lizards. Large monitors such as rock monitors ("Varanus albigularis"), the nile monitors ("Varanus niloticus") and the savannah monitors ("Varanus exanthematicus") are mainly taken. These monitors, the largest lizards in Africa, are formidable prey, so most of the hunts are ambushes on adult monitors by mature female eagles. Sometimes a lengthy struggle will ensue as the eagles try to get a good grip on the tough back skin of the monitors while simultaneously trying to control their necks to avoid the prey's powerful jaws, however, the eagles are usually successful in dispatching the large lizards.


title: Martial eagle

text: Other reptiles are also occasionally taken. In Kruger National Park, reptiles as a whole made up 38% of the prey remains. These consisted of monitor lizards as well as a wide range of snakes. Elsewhere, snouted cobras ("Naja annulifera") may added to the list of their prey spectrum. Even youngsters of the African rock python ("Python sebae"), the largest African snake was taken. The weight estimated for a rock python kill was . Tent tortoises ("Psammobates tentorius") and possibly Bell's hinge-back tortoises ("Kinixys spekii") are also taken by martial eagles, In one case, an estimated nile crocodile ("Crocodylus niloticus") was captured and flown with by a martial eagle.


title: Martial eagle

text: For terrestrial predators, including birds of prey, sub-Saharan Africa may be the most competitive environment in the modern world. Due to great diversity of raptors present, each species have shown adaptive specializations, which may consist of various morphological differences that allow them to capitalize on distinct prey selection, hunting methods, habitat and/or nesting habits. The larger booted eagles that dominate the avian food chain in Africa consists of martial eagles, Verreaux's eagles and crowned eagles, which due to their size and conspicuousness may lend themselves to comparisons. While prey species may overlap in these in southern Africa and some parts of east Africa, where the prey size range of all three eagles averages , these three powerful eagles differ considerably in habitat preferences, nesting habits and hunting methods. The Verreaux's eagle nests in and hunts around rocky, mountainous kopje to be in close proximity to the much favored prey, rock hyraxes, which they mainly use contour-hunting (hugging the uneven ground to surprise the prey) to capture. The crowned eagle dwells mainly in mature forests, building nests in large interior trees, and is primarily a perch-hunter, watching and listening for monkeys and other prey over a long period. While all three are known to locally favor rock hyraxes, the nesting habitat differences where they overlap are sufficient to allow these birds not to effect one another. The average prey mass of Verreaux's eagle was similar to that martial eagles, with a pair of studies showing it ranges from . The mean prey mass of crowned eagles in southern Africa also appears to be similar to that of martial eagles but in west Africa (i.e. Ivory Coast) it was considerably heavier at (which may well be the highest mean prey mass for any of the world's raptors). Elsewhere, mean prey masses for the larger booted eagles appears to be considerably smaller than in the larger African species, i.e. single studies for the Spanish imperial eagle ("Aquila adalberti") and wedge-tailed eagles showed means of and , respectively, while a large number of extensive dietary studies for the golden eagle show its global mean prey mass is around .


title: Martial eagle

text: More similar in habitat and, locally, prey selection to martial eagles are three medium-sized eagles, the African hawk-eagle ("Aquila spilogaster"), the tawny eagle ("Aquila rapax") and the bateleur ("Terathopius ecaudatus"). The biology of martial eagles was compared extensively with that of these species in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, where all four were known to prey on large numbers of Kirk's dik-diks (albeit none of these took as many as did the martial eagles and some eaten by bateleurs and tawny eagles are probably scavenged). It was found that the bateleur and tawny eagle are even broader in their prey composition and take live prey more often of a smaller size, also often coming to and feeding on carrion (which is seldom seen in martial eagles) and pirating from other raptors, especially the tawny eagles. The African hawk-eagle takes fairly similar prey to the martial eagle but does not conflict with martial eagles considering its much smaller size and preference for slightly denser wooded areas. In Tsavo East, 29% of prey of tawny eagle and 21% of bateleur foods were the same as that of martial eagles. In east Africa, the breeding season differs mildly between these eagles with bateleurs nesting much earlier than the others and African hawk-eagles breeding peaking slightly later. Thus pressure on shared prey types such as dik-diks are exerted at different times of the year. While the bateleur and tawny eagle can kill prey weighing up to and the African hawk-eagle (being relatively large footed and clawed despite its smaller size) can kill prey of up to , these raptors are too small to regularly go after live prey as large in the prey spectrum of martial eagles, with the bateleur and tawny having talons relatively smaller even adjusted for their body size (the hawk-eagle's talons were relatively similar in proportion to their body size). Due to its large size and broad wings, martial eagles are not highly maneuverable in flight and are not infrequently robbed of their catches by these more agile and swift smaller eagles, particularly bold tawny eagles. Other raptors known to steal food from martial eagles include bateleurs and even other large species such as Verreaux's eagles and lappet-faced vultures ("Torgos tracheliotos"). Considering their potential for aggressiveness in regards to prey pursuits, martial eagles often appear to be surprisingly passive in response to kleptoparasitism, especially if they are able to first fill their crop. This may be because they try to avoid unnecessary expenditures of energy in contention over food. Leopards also rarely steal kills from martial eagles but may also be robbed of small kills by martial eagles, as may cheetahs. In another case, a martial eagle stole a rock hyrax from a bearded vulture ("Gypaetus barbatus"). Prey species are shared by a wide range of birds of prey, both other eagles and other, usually, larger raptors, and mammalian carnivores of many sizes that are too numerous to mention. Some mammalian carnivores such as caracals have superficially similar diets to martial eagles. One other species worth noting is the Verreaux's eagle owl ("Bubo lacteus"), as it is similarly the largest African owl, weighing about , with almost identical habitat preferences and distributional range as the martial eagle. Therefore, some consider the eagle owl to be the martial eagle's nocturnal ecological equivalent. While there is considerable overlap in their diets, there are discrepancies as the eagle owl tends to hunt large numbers of hedgehogs (not known in the eagle's diet) and occasionally high quantities of mole-rats. When considered this in combination with their different times of activity and the fact that the eagle owl weighs about half as much as the martial eagle, direct competition probably does not affect either predator in any considerable way.


title: Martial eagle

text: The martial eagle infrequently hunts other birds of prey, perhaps doing so only slightly more often than do crowned eagles and Verreaux's eagles. In comparison, the temperate-zone-dwelling golden eagle is a frequent predator of other birds of prey. This may be due to more scarce prey resources in colder regions forcing eagles to pursue difficult prey such as this more frequently, whereas booted eagles in rich Africa biospheres may not need to do so as much. Nonetheless, a somewhat diverse range of raptorial birds have been identified as prey for martial eagles: the lanner falcon ("Falco biarmicus"), the peregrine falcon ("Falco peregrinus"), the spotted eagle owl ("Bubo africanus") (with a surprisingly large number of 6 found at one nest in Tsavo East), the pale chanting goshawk ("Melierax canorus"), the hooded vulture ("Necrosyrtes monachus") (in one case after a protracted aerial battle), the white-headed vulture ("Trigonoceps occipitalis") and even Africa's largest bird of prey, the Cape vulture ("Gyps coprotheres"). As apex predators, martial eagles are themselves largely invulnerable to predation. A video exists that purportedly depicts a leopard killing a martial eagle but this eagle was misidentified as it actually features a leopard preying on an immature African fish eagle ("Haliaeetus vociferus") (and, at that, one that was possibly grounded for unknown reasons). There are, however, verified (if rare) cases of caracals preying on sleeping martial eagles at night, by climbing trees and pouncing in an ambush. Additionally a case was reported where a honey badger killed an incubating adult martial eagle. It is possible that leopards may too ambush sleeping eagles, but post-fledgling martial eagles are known to be highly wary, and healthy individuals a great majority of the time will successfully evade potential dangers by day. Predation on nests of martial eagles, beyond those by humans, are little known, with no verified depredations known in the literature, but are likely to occur.


title: Martial eagle

text: Despite their rather aerial existence, the territorial display of adult martial eagles is considered relatively unspectacular. Their display often consists of nothing more than the adult male or both members of a pair circling and calling over their home range area or perching and calling near nestlings. Compared to other large African booted eagles, this species infrequently “sky-dances” (i.e. undulation and dramatic movements high in the sky), but some are known with presumably the male martial eagle only engaging in shallow undulations. During mutual circling, the adult female may turn and present talons. Martial eagles are not known to “cartwheel” which is when two eagles lock feet and circle down, falling almost to the ground, an action that was once thought to be part of breeding displays but is now generally considered territorial in nature. The territory of martial eagles can vary greatly in size. The average home range is estimated to be in east Africa and southern Africa, with mean distances between nests of approximately . In Kruger National Park, the average home range of pairs is with an average nest-spacing of . In Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia, the home range size was per pair. Within Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, South Africa, nest spacing ranged from in the Auob river basin to in the interior dunes area. In the Nyika Plateau of northern Malawi, the average nest spacing was , with only one martial eagle nest recorded in an area that contained four crowned eagle nests. In protected areas of west Africa, the average home range size of martial eagles is about . Somewhat surprisingly, considering their relative scarcity in west Africa overall in comparison in east and southern Africa, home ranges may be just as large in some parts of Kenya, at up to , and the largest known home ranges sizes known come from southern Africa. These are from Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park where the home ranges may be anywhere from , with average spacing between nests of . By the 1990s, approximately 100 pairs were estimated to breed in Hwange. This disparity in territory sizes are likely due to regional differences in food supply, persecution rates and habitat disturbance.


title: Martial eagle

text: Martial eagles may breed in various months in the different parts of their range. They are considered a fairly early breeder compared to the average for sub-Saharan Africa birds of prey but breed much less early than bateleurs. The mating season is in November through April in Senegal, January to June in Sudan, August to July in northeast Africa and almost any month in east Africa and southern Africa, though mostly in April–November. The breeding season may thus begin in various parts of the range in a wet season or the earlier or later part of the local dry season so that no part of the brooding stage will occur during heavy rains. They build their nests in large trees, often larger than other trees in the woodlot. The nest is usually placed them in the main fork of tree at off the ground, though nests have been recorded at anywhere from high, in the highest cases on top of the tree canopy. Tree species is unimportant with the eagles seeming to prefer any type that is difficult to climb, such as those that have thorny branches, few lower branches or smoother bark. In Kalahari Gemsbok National Park of South Africa, almost all nests were in the highly thorny, "Acacia"-like tree, "Vachellia erioloba", in savanna areas. Most nests in southern Africa often are at a height of less than . Often trees used are on the sides of cliffs, ridges, valley or hilltop, with one nest having been found within a cave. In the karoo of South Africa, they have also nested on electric-power pylons. Locally, with the sometimes epidemic levels of clear-cutting of old-growth trees, such pylons may provide a fairly suitable alternative that the eagles can utilize in absence of woodlands. The nest of the martial eagle is a large and conspicuous construction of sticks. In the first year of construction, the nest will average in diameter and measure about deep. After regular use over several years, the nests can regularly measure in excess of in both diameter and depth. The nest may be lightly lined with green leaves. The central depression of the nest averages about across. The nest of martial eagles average slightly smaller than those of crowned eagles and, compared to other large eagle tree nests, are much broader than they are deep, relatively, especially when newly constructed. The construction of new nests can take several months and, in some cases, pairs can take up to two months where they appear to return to the nests daily but contribute only green leaves to line the nest. The repair of an existing nest takes on average two to three weeks. Most pairs will usually just use one nest (as opposed to temperate-zone eagles which may have several alternate nests), with up to 21 years of continuous use for one nest recorded, but pairs constructing a second nest are not infrequent either. One exceptionally prolific pair built or repaired 7 nests during 17 years in Zimbabwe, although they only nested 5 of the 17 years.


title: Martial eagle

text: Martial eagles have a slow breeding rate, laying usually one egg (rarely two) every two years. Clutches of two have only been reported only in South Africa and once in Zambia, and the younger sibling probably never survives or possibly ever even hatches unless the first egg or hatchling dies. Martial eagle eggs are rounded oval and are white to pale greenish-blue, variously. Sometimes they may be handsomely marked with brown and grey blotches. The eggs of martial eagles measure on average among 57 eggs, with ranges of in egg length by in width. Their eggs are the largest of any booted eagle, slightly larger on average than those of golden or Verreaux's eagle and considerably larger than those of crowned eagles. The egg is incubated for 45 to 53 days. The female does a great majority of the incubation, as is typical, but the male may relieve her and incubate for a maximum of three hours in a day. If the nest is approached by humans, the female tends to sit tight, often only flying off once the nest is reached. Unlike the crowned eagle, the martial eagle is not known to protectively attack animals such as humans who come too close to the nest, usually just unobtrusively abandoning the nest until the person leaves the area, in a similar fashion to "Aquila" eagles. However, if maimed or grounded themselves, martial eagles are known to viciously turn on their human tormentors until they are finished off, in some anecdotal claims of early hunting journals, an occasion hunting accident have resulted in martial eagles tearing the flesh down to the bone on the legs of game wardens and even broken arms with their powerful grip. Although these accounts are quite possibly exaggerated, the ferocity of cornered martial eagles may have some influence on its name. Once the eggs hatch, the male of a pair may rarely brood the young but has never been seen to the feed the chick and, for the most part, the male just brings prey for the female to distribute between herself and the nestling. The female attendance at the nest drops considerably at seven weeks after hatching, at which point she resumes hunting. Then, the female may become main food provider but males will also make deliveries. Despite her lower attendance, she still roosts on or near the nest until the nestling stage is done. Despite the occasional capture of food, the male usually is rarely seen near the nest after the female resumes hunting. In one unusual case, a first or second year plumaged male martial eagle was seen assisting an adult female in the way that an adult male would but it was not known if he had merely replaced a deceased male that had sired the young or had actually bred with the female, the following year the young male was verified to mate with the female. Cases of immature plumaged eagles breeding are often considered indicative of stress on a species’ regional population.


title: Martial eagle

text: The newly hatched chick tends to have a two-tone down pattern which is dark grey above and white below, which lightens at about four weeks of age, with the down becoming pale-grey. At 7 weeks, the feathers mostly cover the down and do so completely by 10 weeks except that at that stage the flight feathers are underdeveloped. The new chick is usually quite weak and feeble, becoming more active only after they are 20 days old. The nestlings usually first feeds itself at 9 to 11 weeks old, while it tends to engage in vigorous wing exercises performed from 10 weeks on. Like crowned eagles, males seem to be more active than female youngsters and probably fly sooner too. In one case, a male fledged prematurely at 75 days, however it is possible that male fledging can occur at less than 90 days. Most estimations place fledging as occurring at 96 to 109 days, on average at about 99 days of age. However, after making their first flight, the fledgling usually return to roost in the nest for several days, before gradually moving away from it. Despite increasing signs of independence (such as flight and beginning to practice hunting), in extreme cases, juvenile birds may remain in the care of their parents for a further 6 to 12 months. A typical post-fledgling care stage will continue for about 3 months after fledging. Despite its ability to fly, it will continue to beg for food from both parents as they are seen. Sometimes, the young eagle from the prior mating season may still be present at the onset of the next breeding season. Juvenile eagles may return to their nest site at as old as 3 years of age, but are unlikely to be fed. On the other hand, juvenile martial eagle soar much more readily than crowned eagles and, unlike that species, have been recorded traveling up to several miles from the nest 3 to 4 months after making their first flight. Due to this long dependence period, these eagles can usually only mate in alternate years.