Bird of Prey Encounters

Whilst on a rugby tour of South Africa, I was able to learn a great deal about the rearing and handling of large birds of prey at the Spier Estates in Stellenbosch.
The bird of prey centre there is dedicated to helping birds which have been affected in many ways. Some by human means such as poisoning and shooting, others through neglect and cruelty in captivity and as pets. The centre has a 60% success rate of release back into the wild. 10%, birds which were reared in captivity, are kept as zoo birds in order to educate youngsters on how they should be looked after as well as educating the next generation how problems for these birds can be improved.
I was also able to see the importance of a natural and balanced diet for the birds. Images were shown to us of birds which had been raised on inadequate diets. For example, one image showed a barn owl which should have reached maturity, yet was still the size of a chick and was all bone with deformed features. This was all due to a diet of raw mince.
The birds at the centre get fed on pieces of dead mice, chicks and other small animals, which are raw-simulating the food that they would catch for themselves in the wild.

Our guide also told us of the importance of exercise for the birds. All the birds at the centre are flown daily, and this is essential to ensure that the bird does not become stressed and do itself harm from boredom. It is common for birds to deliberately pull out their own feathers, simply for something to do in captive environments.

Our guide has his own hunting birds and tries to stimulate a proper lifestyle for the birds that they would have in the wild. For example he flies the hunting birds on a Saturday where they will catch themselves a hare, rabbit or even small antelope and eat it their own catch. They will then not eat again until the Wednesday to allow for full digestion of the prey-which is exactly what would occur in the wild after a good feed. I feel that where ever possible it is important to keep conditions as close to how they would be in the wild, allowing, for, where it is feasible, birds to potentially be realised back into the wild after their period of rehabilitation.

Particularly with smaller birds of prey such as kestrels and falcons I learnt that it is important to have softer netting as the enclosure. This is because their eyes focus past the netting and they feel that they can fly through. By having a softer netting, it prevents serious damage to the birds, which often happens in homes where birds are kept, since cages and enclosures are not suitable for the needs of the particular bird.

I was also able to learn about how different birds are adapted for the different ways in which they catch their prey and for their way of life. For example falcons such as Perigrines have very pointed wings, allowing them to dive at high speeds to catch their prey. They have incredibly sharp talons, allowing them to catch birds, such as pigeons in the air as they fly.
Contrary to this Eagles have large wings, although this means they are able to easily soar and glide, they use large amounts of energy flying for long periods of time by beating their wings so their flight time is limited.
They too have sharp talons but catch larger prey. They therefore have extremely strong leg muscles, it is easy to feel how powerful they are by simply stroking the leg of these huge birds.
A Eagles grip with its talons is very strong and is capable of holding a small antelope in its talons with ease.

Another interesting bird related fact that I learnt was about Vultures and also storks. Since they often live in very hot environments, they deficate on their legs. This makes their legs white, and helps to regulate temperature by cooling the birds down. This is because the white staining will reflect light from the birds legs.