Raptors

jack: 2nd Feb 2007 - 20:18 GMT

pic 1 - do not feed the birds
pic 2 - this is the last view of a kill
pic 3 - asking his mate whats for dinner tonight
pic 4 - saying look over there
pic 5 - my mother-in-law
pic 6 - what i'm going to look like when i get old age spots

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 2nd Feb 2007 - 20:38 GMT

Fantastic photos! I hope you had a telephoto lens or had fed these raptors bits of wildebeast before you attempted the shot.

pic 5 is my mother-in-law too, does that mean Jack and I are related?

Guy McLaren: 3rd Feb 2007 - 11:49 GMT

In case anyone is wondering

1. Black Eagle
2. Yellow billed kite
3.& 4 Cape Griffon Vulture
5 Ground Hornbill
6. Marabou Stork

Most of these wonderful creatures are in serious danger of dissapearing. Ther are 1500 known breeding pairs of the ground hornbill left. Farmers are poisonong 100's of these birds to kill lynx and jackal that are attcking their live stock

Guy McLaren: 11th Feb 2007 - 18:22 GMT

www.guymclaren.co.za

grange: 18th Feb 2007 - 13:42 GMT

Killing natural wild life ? We have that up here with the coyotes.Farmers hunting them for the same reason . I guess when it comes to protecting farm animals farmers are not the shepards of natural world .Seems the simplest solution for them is blast away .
However with a bit of thought coexisting will work .
case in point ;
A sheep farmer had a problem with losses to coyotes . He tried to hunt them , but as soon as he killed a bunch , a new pack moved in , same problem with losses .
So he bought a old gelding ( cheap $200.00) put it to pasture with the sheep . The horse being a herd animal and being a male took to protecting the sheep from the coyotes .He didnt have any further losses after . The coyotes took to just eating their normal diet , rabbits , mice weak/ old deer .etc . The population in the area fell to a natural limit .The deer population went down ( which was really too high due to good winters and lots of food and fat sheep fed coyotes )
to a normal amount .
I dont know if this applies to raptors of not . But its a good lesson .
Cheers