Bird in the hand

On the way back from Robberg after fieldwork, I spotted a Forest Buzzard on a light pole. A quick dash home was made to collect mice and the raptor trap. We made the drop, and before I had even managed to turn the car around the bird was on the trap! As we were so close to home we went home to do the ringing so Jesse and Kate could also see the bird. It's not every day that you have a buzzard in your living room!

An interesting deformed talon.

Taking measurements while Selena gets more handling experience.

What a beauty!

Shirley releasing the buzzard at the capture site.

Girl power

Shirley and I, along with Selena a visiting potential MSc student, decided to spend a morning roaming the roads to do some raptor ringing. Unfortunately we only managed to catch the one Common Buzzard, but one in better than none!

Ringed!

Selena holding her first buzzard!

Amur Falcon.

Giant Kingfisher.

European Roller.

Awesome owlet

Mark received a concerned phonecall regarding an 'abandoned' owlet suspected to be sick, and so Mark, again with Shirley and I in tow, headed to a housing estate in Plett. Many people do not realise that owl chicks often roost on the ground during the day and are not accompanied by the parents. This little owlet, a Spotted Eagle-owl, was in fine fettle and big enough to ring. Luckily this bird did not need to be taken to a rehab centre and was released where it was caught, with reassurance to the residents that the parents would find it and continue to look after it.

Don't even think about it! A grumpy little owl.

Gotcha!

NVT to the rescue! 

Black Harriers and raptor ringing

Alan Lee, a ringer in Baviaanskloof, knew of a Black Harrier nest and invited Mark to come and ring the two chicks. Shirley and I were very quick to agree to accompany him and so we set out early one morning to get to the site where the nest was. Of course we made sure to leave a little earlier than necessary to do some raptor ringing along the way! We managed to snare both a Jackal Buzzard and Forest Buzzard in the first hour on the road, and we were chuffed!

Ringing the Jackal Buzzard, our first catch!

A very happy Shirley with the buzzard.

Forest Buzzard.

We continued our journey, and met up with Alan and a guide. After a bumpy 4x4 journey to the nest we were met with destruction. The nest holding the two Black Harrier chicks was predated, the little half eaten bodies still warm indicating an early morning attack.

One of the adult Black Harriers.

The predated nest.

We turned around and began the trip home, and of course did some raptor trapping. A first for me was to catch TWO Pale Chanting Goshawks at the same time, it was very cool!

Mark and Shirley with the two goshawks.

Me releasing one of the goshawks.

Raptor record

After spending the weekend away in Cape Town for the summit, Shane and I spent some time together and took a day to go raptor ringing, and bird watching. After an early morning drive over the pass, and picking up a colourful hitchhiker, we turned towards George and began the search. It turned out to be the most successful of raptor catching days! With a grand total of 5 birds caught and 2 new species turned the day into a record breaker! I got a lot handling experience, and we spend some good time bird watching at a variety of ponds along the way. Lunch was had at a quaint farm stall, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a simple lunch of a toasted cheese sandwich and coffee but by then I was starving and man was it amazing! It was a long day out, we only arrived back home after 5pm that evening after a 7am start, but with 2 Jackal Buzzards, 2 Rock Kestrels and a Pale Chanting Goshawk, it was awesome!

The release of the first Jackal Buzzard caught. Photo by Shane McPherson. 

The second Jackal Buzzard being released.

What a beautiful bird, with long legs like a runway model.

A little Rock Kestrel, they have quite a bite! The Jack Russels of the bird world..

UGH! They touched me! Get if off! Photo by Shane McPherson.

Raptors and waffles

Sunday morning Shane and I decided that it would be a wonderful idea to go raptor catching, so we loaded up the ringing gear, and our hardy mice and began the stalk. The weather was not on our side, an on-off drizzle that was most frustrating! There were very few birds to be seen, and the few drops we did yielded no result. Forest Buzzards, it seems, are for the majority very cautious birds; they make a fly-by and that’s it, or land next to the trap and our mice scare them off. But then we got lucky! Another Forest Buzzard spotted and we dropped the bait.. We could see the trap but not her, as she was sitting in dense tree cover, but she then appeared, a beautifully neat little dive… only to land next to the mice! Grr! And so we waited while she did her cautious thing and observed the rodents in their unnatural habitat. Thankfully she was hungry, or the trap didn’t look too threatening as soon she was on it! Footing and grabbing at the safely enclosed mice. And we caught her, a noose solidly around her ankle! Shane did the ringing and I held her; I still need some experience handling the raptors, I am not as comfortable with them as I am with the passerines or even with the gulls. After that the weather deteriorated again and 2 more birds distained our apparently crude trapping mechanism, or maybe it was the mice (the unnatural white stripe is one hypothesis). In any case, we made it back to Plett in time to stop and get a pair of amazing Belgium waffles! Happiness!

You just have to stand in awe! Photo by Shane McPherson.

My first Forest Buzzard! Photo by Shane McPherson.

A photographic stop along the way.

Radical Raptors round 2

A return trip to Radical Raptors yielded a lifer for me, a Black-chested Snake Eagle. Dennis had been rehabilitating this bird, which was almost ready for release, and asked Mark to come and ring it. Mark was kind enough to share the love and so one morning Mark, Cindy, Shane and I headed to Radical Raptors to ring the bird. Shane had the honour of ringing the juvenile bird as Mark has already ringed one of this species. A relatively swift and simple ringing and series of measurements, albeit with some blood drawn – bird 1 human 0, and the deed was done. Mark and Cindy headed off to work and Shane and I spent some time looking at the birds and chatting to Dennis. A special treat was to see BJ, the Cape Vulture, having his breakfast. Since being in captivity, and specifically being fed by Dennis, he has developed a tendency to beg, like a little baby bird! It is a most curious thing to see this big bird tuck his long neck back into his body, spread his wings and flutter them around while making croaking noises. And how he runs, a skipping hop which entertained me no end! A ringing job well done was rewarded with coffee and a chocolate brownie at the local café next to radical raptors, ah yeah!

Ringing the bird!

Beautiful eyes and a vicious bite!

Weighing the bird, with a canine audience.

All ringed and processed and ready for release on another day.

I don't knows you..

Black-shouldered Kite.

Rock Kestrel.

Food, food, food!

Pleeaase! Ah pleeeaase food, food, food!

Roadside raptor ringing

As soon as Shane set dates for coming to visit he also started organising his Western Cape ringing permit so we could go out raptor trapping. It ended up that Mark, Shane and myself went out early one morning to see what raptors we could catch. We left at 5am and started up the pass that the family and I had arrived into Plett on, which seemed remarkably shorter than I remember. First bird spotted was an owl which flew off before we had any real chance of trapping it. And that set the tone for the day. Roughly 300 km over 8 hours with many birds seen, and many trap drops done, and we caught a grand total of 1 bird, a Jackal Buzzard. For some reason I am more comfortable handling the Crowned Eagles that Shane and I had been ringing back in PMB and I was nervous about handling this bird. In the end I ringed the bird while Shane held it and then there was a huge debate about how to hold raptors and then I got to hold it and handle it while Shane checked my measurements, and then release it after some photos! I am starting to feel more confident about handling raptors, and ultimately every outing and raptor ringed and handled adds to my experience.. Soon I'll be a pro, hopefully!

Beautiful bird!

Freedom!

The view across from the road

Raptor ringing

 Back in PMB, I had the awesome privilege of going to Raptor Rehab run by Ben Hoffman, part of the African Bird of Prey Sanctuary, to ring some rehabilitated raptors. To see these powerful birds up close is really amazing, and then to handle them and ring them, and on occasion to release them, what a pleasure! Just before I left for Plett, a group of us (Lindy, Patrick, Shane, my dad and myself) went to ring some of the rehab birds, which are at various stages of rehabilitation and will one day be ready for release. I had a wonderful time and thought it would be the last time I would ring rehab raptors.

Excitement about holding a Jackal Buzzard!

Patrick (left), Shane (front) and Lindy (back) ringing the Long-crested Eagle.

But last week I went with Mark to Radical Raptors, birds of prey rehabilitation and awareness centre, run by Dennis Robson, to ring some owls. Maybe it is their beautiful big eyes, watching everything, or the impressive snap/click type sound that they make with their beaks, but owls seem a little more aggressive and scarier in the hand than some of the other raptors I've handled. Mark and I each ringed 2 Spotted Eagle Owls that had been brought to the centre as fluffballs that people had picked up off the ground thinking they had fallen out of their nests. The birds are all under six months old and are ready for release into the real world, now with metal rings around their legs! I took the opportunity after ringing to have a quick look around the centre, it is a well kept, well presented centre although it does have a smaller selection of birds than ABoPS, but this is not necessarily a bad thing considering why the birds are kept in captivity. I am looking forward to return trips to the centre, and hopefully some more rehab birds to ring for release!

The entrance.

Measuring the owl's bill. Photo by Mark Brown.

Grumpy bird! Photo by Mark Brown.

Rock Kestrel.

Black Eagle.