Wednesday, February 22, 2012
SORRY for delay!!!
Hello, I am so sorry, that I don't have enough time to translate all my South African Adventures while I am here in this wonderful vulture-rescue centre. Please enjoy the pictures in my German Blog www.geierwelt.blogspot.com, translation will follow soon, I promise!!!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Vultures, mice and cobras...
After a light night of a full moon and less sleep cute Spotty welcomed me early in the morning, sitting infront of my door next to my shoes.
When having a breakfast a snake caused great excitement: Someone saw her next to the horse-arena at VulPro! All together we went to the arena and found a cobra (don't know the species) hiding next to a mound under a tree, maybe one year old, more then a metre long and deadly poisonous!!! 
Subadult snakes don't know who to dose their poison, that's why they use too much poison and are more dangerous then adult snakes. By using a stick the snake got professional captured, was brought to the other side of the farm and released in the grassland.
But actually she looked very trustingly!
Next some early-morning exercises, capturing the Lapped-faced Vulture and giving him his eyedrops. This time he was sitting on a perch in a very good position that made it easy for me to capture him. I guess I get used to it! Just got some black and blue bruises at my upper arm when I tried to prevent the vulture from spreading his giant wings. But bruises made by a vulture are much more stylish then bruises when stumbling against a door or a wall... I proudly present my vulturous bruises ;-) Because of his poor eyesight it's not possible to release the Lapped-faced Vulture into the wild. That's why we wanted to get him used to people and do some exercises with him. The first exercise he passed with flying colours, eating straight out of my hand!!!
Every now and then I played with Cape Vulture Cody, who likes to run beside me when I am next to his enclosure. This time he proudly presented me his collection of feathers.
He likes to get little sticks, so I gave him some through the fence while he mischievously watched my dangling lid of my camera lens.
In the next picture you can see the difference between Cape Vultures and White-backed Vultures. Cape Vultures (behind) have blue colours around their eyes, while White-backed Vultures (infront) have a black face. Depending on the incidence of light it's very difficult to distinguish both species.
My next job was extraordinary, taking a double-sized bloated dead sheep to the capture-enclosure at the vulture's restaurant and cut it into pieces. The knives were very blunt and after some unsuccessful attempts to cut the skin I ran a knife utterly fearless into the sheep's potbelly... I'll give you three guesses what happened! Well, fortunately it did not explode but the "fragrance" was breathtaking. When the penetrating smell was gone I managed to cut the skin and present the vultures some tasty insides of the sheep. Next to the opened curtain of the capture-enclosure I put some piglets whose skin colour has changed into green served with the left-overs of the yesterday's cow. Delicious bait to capture some wild vultures for tagging. (I better spare you the pictures of the sheep.)
Unfortunately the weather conditions weren't very good. Too warm but cloudy and little thermals. Too exhausting for vultures to fly. 
Few hours later some vultures were circling in the sky and more then 40 Cape Vultures came down to the vulture's restaurant step-by-step. Unfortunately they did not like the dead sheep. 
For a long time we were sitting at the observation point under a tree next to the vulture's restaurant and waited for the vultures to go inside the capture-enclosure. When they are inside we can pull the end of a long rope at the observation point and close the capture-enclosure with a curtain. But no vulture walked into the trap.
They were satisfied by eating the left-overs of the yesterday's cow. Some vultures even left the restaurant without eating anything. Funny birds. Their crops were empty, they must be very hungry. But sometimes, when there are tempting thermals, vultures feel like flying and take off.
Hopefully they will come back tomorrow and we got the chance to capture some beautiful specimens. The good guys will get tagged, analysed, measured and few minutes later released.
We continued replacing perches in the enclosures. Now just the perches inside the big enclosures are missing.
Oh yeah, late in the morning I helped to clean the five boxes of our mice inside the garage. Sometimes they are used as food for vulture chicks or the Bateleur Eagles.
But how to capture a mouse? YES, catch it by the tail!
Hehe, great fun!!! At the moment I don't like the mice, 'cause early in the morning I saw one eating her baby. Killer-mouse!
In few minutes we will go to a restaurant - well, no vulture's restaurant but for people!
When having a breakfast a snake caused great excitement: Someone saw her next to the horse-arena at VulPro! All together we went to the arena and found a cobra (don't know the species) hiding next to a mound under a tree, maybe one year old, more then a metre long and deadly poisonous!!! Subadult snakes don't know who to dose their poison, that's why they use too much poison and are more dangerous then adult snakes. By using a stick the snake got professional captured, was brought to the other side of the farm and released in the grassland.But actually she looked very trustingly!Next some early-morning exercises, capturing the Lapped-faced Vulture and giving him his eyedrops. This time he was sitting on a perch in a very good position that made it easy for me to capture him. I guess I get used to it! Just got some black and blue bruises at my upper arm when I tried to prevent the vulture from spreading his giant wings. But bruises made by a vulture are much more stylish then bruises when stumbling against a door or a wall... I proudly present my vulturous bruises ;-) Because of his poor eyesight it's not possible to release the Lapped-faced Vulture into the wild. That's why we wanted to get him used to people and do some exercises with him. The first exercise he passed with flying colours, eating straight out of my hand!!!
Every now and then I played with Cape Vulture Cody, who likes to run beside me when I am next to his enclosure. This time he proudly presented me his collection of feathers.He likes to get little sticks, so I gave him some through the fence while he mischievously watched my dangling lid of my camera lens.In the next picture you can see the difference between Cape Vultures and White-backed Vultures. Cape Vultures (behind) have blue colours around their eyes, while White-backed Vultures (infront) have a black face. Depending on the incidence of light it's very difficult to distinguish both species.My next job was extraordinary, taking a double-sized bloated dead sheep to the capture-enclosure at the vulture's restaurant and cut it into pieces. The knives were very blunt and after some unsuccessful attempts to cut the skin I ran a knife utterly fearless into the sheep's potbelly... I'll give you three guesses what happened! Well, fortunately it did not explode but the "fragrance" was breathtaking. When the penetrating smell was gone I managed to cut the skin and present the vultures some tasty insides of the sheep. Next to the opened curtain of the capture-enclosure I put some piglets whose skin colour has changed into green served with the left-overs of the yesterday's cow. Delicious bait to capture some wild vultures for tagging. (I better spare you the pictures of the sheep.)Unfortunately the weather conditions weren't very good. Too warm but cloudy and little thermals. Too exhausting for vultures to fly. Few hours later some vultures were circling in the sky and more then 40 Cape Vultures came down to the vulture's restaurant step-by-step. Unfortunately they did not like the dead sheep. For a long time we were sitting at the observation point under a tree next to the vulture's restaurant and waited for the vultures to go inside the capture-enclosure. When they are inside we can pull the end of a long rope at the observation point and close the capture-enclosure with a curtain. But no vulture walked into the trap.They were satisfied by eating the left-overs of the yesterday's cow. Some vultures even left the restaurant without eating anything. Funny birds. Their crops were empty, they must be very hungry. But sometimes, when there are tempting thermals, vultures feel like flying and take off.Hopefully they will come back tomorrow and we got the chance to capture some beautiful specimens. The good guys will get tagged, analysed, measured and few minutes later released.We continued replacing perches in the enclosures. Now just the perches inside the big enclosures are missing.Oh yeah, late in the morning I helped to clean the five boxes of our mice inside the garage. Sometimes they are used as food for vulture chicks or the Bateleur Eagles.But how to capture a mouse? YES, catch it by the tail!Hehe, great fun!!! At the moment I don't like the mice, 'cause early in the morning I saw one eating her baby. Killer-mouse!In few minutes we will go to a restaurant - well, no vulture's restaurant but for people!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
How to capture a vulture?
In the morning we cobbled our shelf-masterpiece together, to get a worthy place for all the brochures of the vulture rescue centre VulPro. Well, mayba not as stable as IKEA, but I am sure we made the best of it. In March there will be a vulture conference in our education room, so we got the room ready for it.
The half blind Lapped-faced Vulture had to act as a guinea pig for my vulture-capture-arts.
For newcomers it is much easier to sneak up on a half blind vulture, 'cause he cannot see you from one side. Catch the vulture's neck right next to his head, try to "sit down" on the vulture's body to fix his enormous wings with your thighs. Put your right arm around his right wing and your left arm around the vulture's left wing, without releasing his head and take care of his claws. Now carefully get up and enjoy cuddling a vulture!!! ;-) 
Worked out really well! Did not lose any fingers! The poor Lapped-faced Vulture will get his eyedrops twice a day, so will get my next chance to capture him this afternoon. Hard to believe, but without awkward gloves, just barehanded, it's much easier to capture a vulture!
Most of the day I replaced the perches inside the enclosures. Either the vultures or the birds of prey need an opportunity to use and sharpen their claws. Therefore they need rough boles with lots of barks. When the perches are barkless and smooth birds will have a problem to land and sit on it without sliding. That's why we needed new perches. Looking in a big bunch of wood and boles for the best perches, trimming them with a saw, cutting wires, removing old and used perches, replacing them with new ones while the vultures were watching us Argus-eyed.
Today we finished the small rehabilitation enclosures, the bigger enclosures of the Cape Vultures and White-backed Vultures and also the enclosure of the aggressive Andean Condor and the two Palm-nut Vultures will follow soon.
Besides the work I might not miss visiting the beautiful vultures as often as possible.
In between I did a quick side-trip to the vulture's restaurant where more then 30 wild vultures gathered on the grassland. Unfortunetly their searching for some food was unsuccessfully, 'cause we ran out of carcasses :-(
After quite a while the vultures left the restaurant, but were still circling at the sky…
Many vultures, that come to VulPro, get tagged, what means they get a yellow marking on both of their wings, so people can identify them. At the moment the marking has a "B" and three numbers. On the back side of the marking we write down the phone number of VulPro in case an injured vulture was found somewhere. Our vulture-patient in the rehabilitation enclosure, a five month young Cape Vulture fledgeling who was rescued half starved, got tagged today, too. First we captured him and I was allowed to hold him in my arms, while the others looked at his constitution.
Then he got a metallic marking ring around his leg. With united forces we hold him down on the ground and I fixed his head so he cannot bite anyone. Unfortunately the tagging-procedure is hurting the vulture very much :-( First we spread his wings, then we looked for the smalles "constriction" of his wing and tagged him ca. 5 cm below his upper side of the wing. When tagging of course you have to take not to puncture any nerves. Poor vulture, he did not like the procedure, especially when we tagged his second wing, too. 
In compensation for his pain I was allowed to release him in the big enclosure with lots of members of the same species. 
Now he doesn't has to be alone anymore. When releasing him you carefully bend down so the vulture can put his claws on the ground. 
Now you quickly open your arms, give the vulture a little push and back off - normally the vulture will not turn around to bite you, but escape forward ;-) 
Well done, goody-vulture!!! 
In contrast to this shy vulture our cute model vulture "Cody" scampered next to me. He is so pretty and gentle so he can be demonstrated when school classes visit VulPro. Really a vulture to touch... well, I was told I can touch him, but when I tryed to he softly bit my right hand! Just a harmless scratch, matter for a thrilling story ;-) But I have to come to the vulture's defence: I am sure the bite of a cat would hurt much more! Maybe the vulture just wanted to play with me!? This snack attack really made me chuckle, but I can absolutely go without a real vulture's bite!!! To protect yourself when capturing wild vultures it's recommended to wear (sun-)glasses. Gloves can protect your hands, but they are unfunctional when capturing the vultures, 'cause you cannot hold the vulture strong enough and get control of his neck and head. A vulture is a powerful bird! You will know when you are holding a vulture in your arms and he tries to spread his wings while suddenly moving his long neck at the same time and trying to turn his head to your face. But when I watch cute Cody being pet by Kerri, VulPros manager, I would rather prefer a faithful vulture a thousand times than a dog!!!
Later we stopped replacing the perches because of a short shower of rain. Just few minutes, but just wo raindrops with a perceived diameter of 10 cm made me soaking wet. We will go on replacing the perches tomorrow.
Now it's time to admire the beautiful pictures of vultures!
The half blind Lapped-faced Vulture had to act as a guinea pig for my vulture-capture-arts.For newcomers it is much easier to sneak up on a half blind vulture, 'cause he cannot see you from one side. Catch the vulture's neck right next to his head, try to "sit down" on the vulture's body to fix his enormous wings with your thighs. Put your right arm around his right wing and your left arm around the vulture's left wing, without releasing his head and take care of his claws. Now carefully get up and enjoy cuddling a vulture!!! ;-) Worked out really well! Did not lose any fingers! The poor Lapped-faced Vulture will get his eyedrops twice a day, so will get my next chance to capture him this afternoon. Hard to believe, but without awkward gloves, just barehanded, it's much easier to capture a vulture!Most of the day I replaced the perches inside the enclosures. Either the vultures or the birds of prey need an opportunity to use and sharpen their claws. Therefore they need rough boles with lots of barks. When the perches are barkless and smooth birds will have a problem to land and sit on it without sliding. That's why we needed new perches. Looking in a big bunch of wood and boles for the best perches, trimming them with a saw, cutting wires, removing old and used perches, replacing them with new ones while the vultures were watching us Argus-eyed.
Today we finished the small rehabilitation enclosures, the bigger enclosures of the Cape Vultures and White-backed Vultures and also the enclosure of the aggressive Andean Condor and the two Palm-nut Vultures will follow soon.
Besides the work I might not miss visiting the beautiful vultures as often as possible.In between I did a quick side-trip to the vulture's restaurant where more then 30 wild vultures gathered on the grassland. Unfortunetly their searching for some food was unsuccessfully, 'cause we ran out of carcasses :-(After quite a while the vultures left the restaurant, but were still circling at the sky…Many vultures, that come to VulPro, get tagged, what means they get a yellow marking on both of their wings, so people can identify them. At the moment the marking has a "B" and three numbers. On the back side of the marking we write down the phone number of VulPro in case an injured vulture was found somewhere. Our vulture-patient in the rehabilitation enclosure, a five month young Cape Vulture fledgeling who was rescued half starved, got tagged today, too. First we captured him and I was allowed to hold him in my arms, while the others looked at his constitution.
Then he got a metallic marking ring around his leg. With united forces we hold him down on the ground and I fixed his head so he cannot bite anyone. Unfortunately the tagging-procedure is hurting the vulture very much :-( First we spread his wings, then we looked for the smalles "constriction" of his wing and tagged him ca. 5 cm below his upper side of the wing. When tagging of course you have to take not to puncture any nerves. Poor vulture, he did not like the procedure, especially when we tagged his second wing, too. In compensation for his pain I was allowed to release him in the big enclosure with lots of members of the same species. Now he doesn't has to be alone anymore. When releasing him you carefully bend down so the vulture can put his claws on the ground. Now you quickly open your arms, give the vulture a little push and back off - normally the vulture will not turn around to bite you, but escape forward ;-) Well done, goody-vulture!!! In contrast to this shy vulture our cute model vulture "Cody" scampered next to me. He is so pretty and gentle so he can be demonstrated when school classes visit VulPro. Really a vulture to touch... well, I was told I can touch him, but when I tryed to he softly bit my right hand! Just a harmless scratch, matter for a thrilling story ;-) But I have to come to the vulture's defence: I am sure the bite of a cat would hurt much more! Maybe the vulture just wanted to play with me!? This snack attack really made me chuckle, but I can absolutely go without a real vulture's bite!!! To protect yourself when capturing wild vultures it's recommended to wear (sun-)glasses. Gloves can protect your hands, but they are unfunctional when capturing the vultures, 'cause you cannot hold the vulture strong enough and get control of his neck and head. A vulture is a powerful bird! You will know when you are holding a vulture in your arms and he tries to spread his wings while suddenly moving his long neck at the same time and trying to turn his head to your face. But when I watch cute Cody being pet by Kerri, VulPros manager, I would rather prefer a faithful vulture a thousand times than a dog!!!Later we stopped replacing the perches because of a short shower of rain. Just few minutes, but just wo raindrops with a perceived diameter of 10 cm made me soaking wet. We will go on replacing the perches tomorrow.
Now it's time to admire the beautiful pictures of vultures!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
First encounter with a vulture's beak
After falling into a deep sleep for more than 10 hours, I woke up by the wonderful South African sun shining in my room. And the cute Dikkop "Spotty" welcomed me infront of my door.
Most of the day the sun was hiding behind a light cloud layer and it became very sticky, but it was wonderful warm. Can't believe I left Germany after one week with temperature of -10 to -20 degrees! ;-)
Next to the vulture's restaurant I met a Marabou Stork stalking on the grass
and the vultures in their enclosures were gorgeous. 
In the morning my first practical test, driving with the huge VulPro pick-up, shift gearbox, dirt road and driving on the "wrong" side of the road... We got a message from a farmer that there is a dead cow and I don't like to keep the vultures waiting for their lunch. Fortunately I just had to drive straight on the dirt road next to the vulture centre, maybe 15 minutes, to the farm. Suprisingly I got used to driving the pick-up very soon - after trying to change gears with my right hand and grasp at nothing ;-) With help of two farm workers we finally made it to lay the cow down on the loading platform of our pick-up and drove back to the centre - view of two hooves in the side mirrow. ;-)
I am sure I never had such an extraordinary cargo in my life! Just missed the hungry wild vultures circling over my car... but they suddenly arrived at the vulture's restaurant at the same time like me! 
We dumped the cow next to the Cape Vultures breeding enclosure in the vulture's restaurant and cut the cow into big pieces. Delicious!!! 
Really interesting, which parts of the cow's body appeared and oozed out when we cut the skin ;-) And all the time more than 20 excited vultures watching us with hungry eyes!
One big part of the cow was given to the Cape Vulture's breeding enclosure,
one part to the big enclosure with Cape Vultures, White-backed Vultures an the Lapped-faced Vulture's couple 
and the bloody bunch of insides stayed in the vulture's restaurant. 
Furthermore we put some piglets from yesterday to the smaller enclosures (Andean Condor, Palm-nut Vultures) and some dead cicks to the owls, the birds of prey and the Dikkop (to me this cute chicken looked like a granivore to me, not like a cannibal)... Don't know if I will be happy anymore to see him waiting next to my door for me in the morning... propably it's a killer-chicken!? This Dikkop is called "Spotty" and his buddy's name inside a little enclosure is "Speedy".
In this centre everything we try to recycle and use as much as possible, even the little, dead chick we found on the ground. The Bateleur Eagle were very happy about this delicious food and I was allowed to feed them by hand!
To recover the half-blind Lapped-faced Vulture got some meat cut into beak-sized pieces plus eyedrops. 
From now on he will get eyedrops twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. He will never be able to use his left eye again, but hopefully we can heal the infection of his sore eye.
Of course the vultures were very happy about their holiday roast and gorged gaggles, fizzlings and hizzlings filled the air. The wild vultures and many kites were circling in the sky and came down to the vulture's restaurant. Carrion go!!!
We are helping each other all the time and whenever there are some jobs to do we do it. Cleaning the enclosures, collecting carcasses, cutting carcasses into pieces, skilled manual work, gardening, trying to build a shelf out of plywood boards,...
And everytime you like to relax for a minute, the Dikkop is coming next to you, a dog snuggles your leg or a horse licks your face, great fun!!!
And to all the people who bet some of my extremities will be missing when I come back to Germany: Yes, I already got bitten by a vulture! When I carryed that bloody, fat piece of cow under my arm to the Cape Vulture breeding enclosure, all the vultures sharpened their beaks. Unfortunately also the vulture who was hiding in the corner next to the door. I guess he liked the blood on my gloves, too, 'cause when I tryed to open the door of the enclosure he bit my hand. Scamp! But I am fine, just a tiny bruise and some scratches. ;-)
Can't wait to see what adventures and surprises all about my beloved poultry are waiting for me!!!
Most of the day the sun was hiding behind a light cloud layer and it became very sticky, but it was wonderful warm. Can't believe I left Germany after one week with temperature of -10 to -20 degrees! ;-)Next to the vulture's restaurant I met a Marabou Stork stalking on the grass
and the vultures in their enclosures were gorgeous. In the morning my first practical test, driving with the huge VulPro pick-up, shift gearbox, dirt road and driving on the "wrong" side of the road... We got a message from a farmer that there is a dead cow and I don't like to keep the vultures waiting for their lunch. Fortunately I just had to drive straight on the dirt road next to the vulture centre, maybe 15 minutes, to the farm. Suprisingly I got used to driving the pick-up very soon - after trying to change gears with my right hand and grasp at nothing ;-) With help of two farm workers we finally made it to lay the cow down on the loading platform of our pick-up and drove back to the centre - view of two hooves in the side mirrow. ;-)I am sure I never had such an extraordinary cargo in my life! Just missed the hungry wild vultures circling over my car... but they suddenly arrived at the vulture's restaurant at the same time like me! We dumped the cow next to the Cape Vultures breeding enclosure in the vulture's restaurant and cut the cow into big pieces. Delicious!!! Really interesting, which parts of the cow's body appeared and oozed out when we cut the skin ;-) And all the time more than 20 excited vultures watching us with hungry eyes!One big part of the cow was given to the Cape Vulture's breeding enclosure,
one part to the big enclosure with Cape Vultures, White-backed Vultures an the Lapped-faced Vulture's couple and the bloody bunch of insides stayed in the vulture's restaurant. Furthermore we put some piglets from yesterday to the smaller enclosures (Andean Condor, Palm-nut Vultures) and some dead cicks to the owls, the birds of prey and the Dikkop (to me this cute chicken looked like a granivore to me, not like a cannibal)... Don't know if I will be happy anymore to see him waiting next to my door for me in the morning... propably it's a killer-chicken!? This Dikkop is called "Spotty" and his buddy's name inside a little enclosure is "Speedy".In this centre everything we try to recycle and use as much as possible, even the little, dead chick we found on the ground. The Bateleur Eagle were very happy about this delicious food and I was allowed to feed them by hand!
To recover the half-blind Lapped-faced Vulture got some meat cut into beak-sized pieces plus eyedrops. From now on he will get eyedrops twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. He will never be able to use his left eye again, but hopefully we can heal the infection of his sore eye.Of course the vultures were very happy about their holiday roast and gorged gaggles, fizzlings and hizzlings filled the air. The wild vultures and many kites were circling in the sky and came down to the vulture's restaurant. Carrion go!!!
We are helping each other all the time and whenever there are some jobs to do we do it. Cleaning the enclosures, collecting carcasses, cutting carcasses into pieces, skilled manual work, gardening, trying to build a shelf out of plywood boards,...
And everytime you like to relax for a minute, the Dikkop is coming next to you, a dog snuggles your leg or a horse licks your face, great fun!!!
And to all the people who bet some of my extremities will be missing when I come back to Germany: Yes, I already got bitten by a vulture! When I carryed that bloody, fat piece of cow under my arm to the Cape Vulture breeding enclosure, all the vultures sharpened their beaks. Unfortunately also the vulture who was hiding in the corner next to the door. I guess he liked the blood on my gloves, too, 'cause when I tryed to open the door of the enclosure he bit my hand. Scamp! But I am fine, just a tiny bruise and some scratches. ;-)
Can't wait to see what adventures and surprises all about my beloved poultry are waiting for me!!!
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