Flyby…

Some years ago on Selati Game Reserve, we scaled the Lilie Koppies to visit a protected endemic cycad forest.
This particular range of hills is a very prominent feature in the immediate landscape around where I live and is visible from our stoep.

As is usual once done with the cycads, we perched atop the massive granitic boulders to marvel at the undulating vista of rugged Lowveld stretching from the Mozambican border in the East all the way across the Kruger National Park and surrounding Private Reserves to the imposing Drakensberg Escarpment and Blyde River Canyon in the West. Isolated smaller koppies dot the landscape on either side of the snaking Olifants River, adding gritty texture to the otherwise gentle scene.
This, a landscape which has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, is where my soul is at home.

Whilst taking a bit of solitude in silence, we noticed the nesting pair of Verreaux’s Eagles taking advantage of the orographic lift, to effortlessly glide along the ridge. After a few passes, I suddenly noticed the one returning with something in its talons.
Upon inspection it appeared to be a branch from a Lavender fever-berry, a tree common on these rocky outcrops, trailing in the wind.

Rob was sat slightly to the left below where I was and also saw the approaching eagle, keeping a keen eye on it.

As can be seen in the above image, everything seemed normal, as if it was taking a twig to add to their nest somewhere farther along.
It however started gaining in altitude which drew attention, as on previous passes it did not.
Nothing appeared otherwise untoward as it passed abeam us and continued upwards and onwards...until it suddenly turned its head to deliberately look at us.

For a few seconds time slowed down and one could almost see the calculations being made in its head. Then out of the blue...it dropped the twig.

The initial puzzlement immediately gave way to incredulity as the descending twig drifted on the oncoming breeze straight in our direction.
A massive smile started forming on my face as it became pretty evident to me what was transpiring.
We all sat with our mouthes agape as we forgot about the eagle and panned with the descending twig till it, with a loud whack, smacked against the boulder just next to where Rob was sitting...

Sometimes possibly arbitrary events can be deeply thought provoking.

Yours in awareness