Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Hunt and scavenge (from Steyn 1980)

• Diverse animal diet
• Mainly eat birds and mammals
• Also consume reptiles, fish, and eggs of other birds

List of prey species (from Steyn 1980 unless otherwise noted)

• Mammal prey and carrion
• Red rock, spring, and scrub hares
• Among the most common prey in Zimbabwe
• Bush squirrel
• Mice and rats, including the greater cane rat
• Porcupine
• Hedgehog
• Wild cat
• Blackbacked jackal
• Striped polecat
• Mongoose
• Duiker
• Steenbok
• Dik dik (Smeenk 1974)
• Among the most common prey in Kenya
• Avian prey and carrion
• Black-shouldered Kite
• Coqui, Shelly’s, Natal, and Swainson’s francolins
• Crowned Guineafowl
• Crowned and Blacksmith plovers
• Doves, including the Cape Turtle, Laughing, Emerald-spotted Wood doves, and domestic pigeon
• Grey Loerie
• Spotted Eagle
• Nightjars, including the Rufous-cheeked, Freckled, and Mozambique nightjars
• Lilac-breasted Roller
• African hoopoe
• Yellow-billed Hornbill
• Crested Barbet
• Fiscal and Crimson-breasted Shrike
• Glossy Starling
• Reptilian prey
• Snakes, including Puffadder, Boomslang, and Stripe-bellied Sand snakes
• Other
• Catfish and tilapia
• Likely caught when the fish are stranded in shallow, drying pools or taken as carrion
• Termites
• On the ground, birds chase and eat the insects as they emerge from mounds (Hagemeyer and Bond 2014)

A Bateleur in flight with prey.

Bateleurs prey on everything from mammals to reptiles to fish to insects.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Hagemeyer and Bond (2014)
Smeenk (1974)
Steyn (1980)