Rescue Mission: Secretary Bird's Journey to Safety

In a mission guided by Easter weekend weather windows, a juvenile secretary bird took flight - figuratively - with The Bateleurs on a rescue journey from Orania to Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre.

The mission's success was made possible in large part thanks to the dedication of Ronel and Stoffel Visagie, who were waiting at Orania airstrip with the juvenile secretary bird, representing EWT – Birds of Prey. Alongside them was Abraham Van Zyl  who ensured the aircraft was refueled efficiently with avgas. Their warm welcome, complete with “koffee en beskuit,” and seamless handover of the precious cargo made for a smooth and memorable stopover in Orania.

After a weather-challenging journey, the final leg of the mission ended with a heartfelt reception at Walkerson’s airfield, where Magdali Theron and the team from the Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre greeted the new arrival with visible joy. Their enthusiastic welcome made it clear the young secretary bird was now in expert, caring hands.

PILOT REPORT: Allan Thomson

The forecast easter weekend weather dictated that Sunday morning would be the most opportune time for my first ever Bateleur’s mission.

The mission required a flight to Orania to pick up a juvenile secretary bird from Ronel Visagie, EWT Birds of Prey)  at the Orania airstrip and transport it to the Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre.

Some high cloud was predicted over Orania, but crucially few or no cloud cover over the somewhat tricky Walkerson’s airfield - our Dullstroom destination.

A pre-dawn pickup of my - for the day - co-pilot, Nikki Bush, occurred under a dark but clear Johannesburg sky. However, on our arrival at Rand airport a fog rivalling anything San Francisco can produce rolled in, thus rendering Rand airport strictly IMC.

An hour’s delay ensued, and we were airborne. Cloud cover and cloud altitude was somewhat thicker and lower than predicted or hoped for. After two hours airborne we arrived overhead an Orania airfield blanketed with thick cloud and a light drizzle.

Ronel and Stoffel Visagie and Abraham (EWT Birds of Prey) were there to meet us with some welcome “koffee en beskuit”. Ronel and Stoffel were in possession of our valuable cargo and Abraham Van Zyl in possession of the equally welcome avgas. Our new passenger, (who was surprisingly nameless) was incredibly compliant and happily posed for many photographs.

After safely stowing the bird in a large carboard box,  we departed into a leaden sky. The flight between Bloemfontein and Kimberly provided some challenging conditions and at one stage, six rain showers were visible at various points simultaneously around the aircraft.

Thankfully, the weather cleared towards Dullstroom and after 2 hours 48 minutes of flying, an uneventful landing at Walkerson’s was followed by an eventful welcome. I don’t think the ladies from the Bird of Prey Center could have shown more delight, had we arrived with a cardboard box containing solid gold bars!

I suspect the bird is in wonderful hands and look forward to hearing of her progress. A delightful lunch was had on the magnificent Walkerson’s hotel patio prior to getting airborne again for Rand airport. The last leg was uneventful and lasted almost exactly one hour.

In total, the three-legged trip was almost six hours of flying. A very rewarding trip indeed. Thank you to The Bateleurs and Steve (Bateleurs GM and Director) for putting it together.

Thank you for the wonderful people who made it happen:

• Nikki Bush, my more than enthusiastic, co-pilot.

• Ronel and Stoffel Visagie from Endangered Wildlife Trust – Birds of Prey.

• Abraham Van Zyl for his friendly and efficient provision of avgas at Orania

• Magdali Theron from Dullstroom Bird of Prey and Rehabilitation Centre.

• Steve McCurrah, GM  of The Bateleurs.

• The kind soul/souls who picked up our lunch tab at Walkerson’s.

Allan Thomson.

EWT - Birds of Prey Report

Author: Ronel Visagie

History of the Secretary Bird

On February 16, 2025, I received a communication from Megan Murgatroyd, HawkWatch

International, who is doing raptor research on a farm in the Calvinia district.

She informed me about a Secretary bird nestling that was in a deteriorating state and suffering

from starvation. Birdlife SA Phd candidate, Wesley Gush, University of Pretoria, had installed a

camera at the nest, which revealed that the nestling had not been fed for a minimum of nine

days and had a weight of only 1.5 kg.

The Secretary bird rescue flight

On 17 February 2025, I retrieved the bird from De Aar and have since been caring for it, observing its remarkable improvement and increasing strength with each passing day. The poor bird was so weak that it could not stand up or even lift his body halfway. The Secretary bird will require training from a falconer to ensure it has the best possible opportunity for survival. The closest falconer and rehabilitation centre is located in Dullstroom at the Dullstroom Birds of Prey and Rehabilitation Centre. All parties involved with the bird concur that this is the most beneficial course of action for its well-being. Following the training to teach the bird to hunt, we intend to return the bird to the same farm in the Karoo for its release.  The bird will also be fitted with a transmitter to follow the success of the rehabilitation.

The Bateleurs will be flying the bird from the Karoo to Dullstroom Birds of Prey and Rehabilitation Centre.  To transport it by road, will take about 2 days and will be very stressful for the bird to be in a box for such a long period.

After 2 months, the permits were in place, the bird was ready to go to a rehabilitation centre and the Bateleurs was ready to fly the bird.  On Sunday morning 20 April the sky was overcast, and rain was forecast for some time during the day.  As we are 70 km from Orania, we were waiting for the pilot to inform us about the time of his departure.  As soon as we received the information, we carefully caught the bird and put it in a crate for the trip to Orania.  The first half of the road to Orania is a gravel road that is in poor condition and after the rain it is even worse!

We arrived at the airfield at Orania about half an hour before Allan Thomson of the Bateleurs arrived. After we had a quick cup of tea, we took some pictures before loading the precious cargo on the plane. Finally, the bird was on its’ way to Dullstroom!