Wingbeat the Newsletter of The

Wingbeat The Newsletter of The

African Bird of prey sanctuary AFRICAN BIRD OF PREY SANCTUARY

OCTOBER FITNESS FLIGHT TUNNEL COMPLETED 2011 For at least ten years, Raptor Rescue manager Ben Hoffman has felt that a pre-release flight tunnel would mark- edly increase the survival chances of larger raptors which have undergone Inside this issue: hospital treatment. The R170 000 cost factor proved a difficult hurdle to over- Rehabilitation Flight 1 come, but in September this year his Tunnel Completed dreams became a reality when a 72m long timber flight tunnel was com- Giant Eagle Owls 2 pleted. The length of the tunnel made it Birds of prey are fundamentally imperative to build accurately as ‘Orphan’ Owls 2 „performance‟ creatures and after being out by 1cm at the start of the weeks of hospital care they lose fit- structure meant a marked My School - 3 ness, which is obviously vital to their discrepancy by the other end! My Planet survival and hunting success once released after treatment. The use of Sanctuary Visitors 3 this tunnel actively fulfils this exercise requirement without compromising Owl Wisdom 4 the bird‟s wild instincts by exposing it to excessive human interaction. The Supporters 4 alternative has been to prepare a rap- 4 tor for release using traditional fal- New Team member conry flying methods which are very labour intensive. The entrance to the new flight tunnel. Three holding enclosures feed into the main tunnel body so that more than one bird can use the structure over a Those who made it happen simultaneous recovery period. The added expense of the timber walls was A big thank you goes out to important to ensure that the birds the following people who would fly the full length of the tunnel put their resources together rather than instinctively swooping up in order to create this awe- and clinging to an open mesh roof. some rehabilitation tool. The tunnel is also CCTV monitored so Mark & Janet Mead of that rehabilitators can assess the Tireworld Exports flight progress of the recovering bird Alex & Mandy Taplin of to accurately ascertain whether the eagle, vulture or hawk is in fact flying Tiger Wheel and Tyre well enough to be released. The Taueber Trust The first recovering raptor to use this facility is an African fish eagle with a The Camelot Conservancy dislocated wing. Three weeks ago this Dee Leeney bird could hardly hop onto a perch. Now she is flying the full length of the and to contractor Marc tunnel and a situation that looked like Ben Hoffman and his Fish eagle ‘Scuba’ Bestel for his dedication a lost cause might in fact still end up and hard work. as a successful release. survey the new 72m pre-release tunnel Page 2 AFRICAN BIRD OF PREY SANCTUARY

Giant Baby vs Baby Giant NEW CONTACT In early October a baby Giant eagle This very large fluff-ball is already owl, now called the Verreaux‟s Eagle showing the characteristic pink eye- TELEPHONE owl, was brought to Raptor Rescue from the Weenan Area. lids of the Verreaux’s Eagle Owl NUMBER species but the distinctive black Most of KZN lies between the estab- ‘eartufts’ are not yet visible. 031 785 4382 lished ranges of these magnificent birds and this is only the second The Sanctuary office Verreaux‟s Eagle owl to be admitted telephone number has to Raptor Rescue. The first one was an adult, (hit by a car) that had been changed because peo- confiscated from a man who was ple stole the cables, so dragging it off down the road in the Karkloof. This bird survived and can we went wireless… be seen at the Sanctuary, as it was non-releaseable due to permanent (ha ha, not so funny!) wing damage. We imported another impaired bird from the Limpopo province to be its friend. These beautiful owls are completely nocturnal in the wild, but with careful observation they can be spotted roosting together in pairs as they await night to fall. They eat a widely diverse range of food; anything from

other owls (like barn owls), game and breed in winter, laying two birds, hare, rodents, mongooses and large, round eggs in the borrowed insects. A favorite meal recorded in the Nylsvley area is hedgehog (44 of nest of another bird. The eggs are the 70 recorded prey items) which incubated for 38 days and then, they peel like a litchi and then drop like with the large eagles, only the spiky skins beneath their regular one chick is raised. The chick nor- roost sites. mally starts to leave the nest at about two months of age, usually Verreaux‟s eagle owls call to each before it can fly properly. other in a series of grunting hoots

What to do when finding a baby owl……LEAVE IT ALONE!

Young owls can be quite active and people they then „imprint‟ on hu- are always „doing stuff‟ as they mans and basically become too pounce, attack, stomp and hop their tame to release. So an uninformed way into adulthood. This „teenage‟ act of kindness can in fact render stage is when well-meaning people these young birds un-releasable normally spot the chicks, think they for life. “Life” for a medium sized have been abandoned and ‟save‟ owl is twenty years and for a large them by trying to rear the bird them- owl, it means up to forty years in selves or sending them to a rehabili- captivity! tation centre. So, when finding a young owl on Many owl species, like the common the floor, the best course of action Spotted eagle owl, actually nest on is to keep your pets away from the the ground. When these very young area and just quietly watch how in chicks are picked up and raised by the next days it learns how to fly and moves off. You should be able to see the parents in the evening or early morning as they bring food to these big babies. If, however, you are worried about the bird, then please call Raptor Res- cue for guidance in your particular case. (the Hotline is alongside left) VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 Page 3

Swipe your card when you shop Partnering for Retail Outlets the African Raptor Trust Woolworths Operating all the non-profit projects Engen QuickShops behind the scenes at the African Bird Waltons of Prey Sanctuary is the African Rap- SupaQuick tor Trust (ART). This trust manages, card is not a credit or debit card, but Kalahari.com for example, Raptor Rescue the spe- simply tracks your transactions and Jack‟s Paint cialist bird of prey rehabilitation unit a monthly statement is also sent to Toys R Us which handles all rescue, treatment, you. Reggie‟s rehabilitation and release of injured Altech Netstar or orphaned birds of prey in KZN. Club Travel The success of the programme obvi- MySchool Travel The African Raptor Trust is now a for- ously depends on the number of Toner Town mal beneficiary of the MySchool My- times supporters swipe their card! Spur Village MyPlanet fundraising pro- Although the percentage given to the Wimpy gramme. This is South Africa‟s num- African Raptor Trust is small, many Photoworld ber one community support pro- people swiping their cards on a regu- Moffett Optical gramme that raises over R2 million a lar basis will create a ripple effect Ola Milky Lane month for schools, charities and envi- and this consistent trickle of funding Food Lovers Market ronmental organisations. By joining will help support the sick and injured Sparkport Pharmacy the programme you can now support birds of prey that are admitted to the Mica Hardware our bird of prey conservation projects Raptor Rescue hospital each month. BIZLINK Hillcrest without even having to visit the Sanc- tuary. To register as a supporter, go online Swipe as you shop! to www.myschool.co.za, click on „get a card‟ and complete the online ap- This is How It works…. plication form selecting the African Raptor Trust as your charity of Supporters apply for a free MySchool choice. Five minutes and it‟s done! MyVillage MyPlanet card and nomi- Your My Planet card will be posted to nate THE AFRICAN RAPTOR TRUST you. as their beneficiary. When they pur- chase items from participating retail- Supporters can use their cards at a ers they swipe this card with the pur- range of national, regional and local chase. A small percentage of the retail partners at 2 500 locations na- transaction is then allocated to ART. tionwide. (See some listed stores top The partner stores pays this donation right) on your behalf, so you are making a Please consider swiping a card for difference to a worthy cause without birds of prey. When all working to- The beautiful Brahman Bull it costing you a cent! The supporter gether we can make a difference. comes for his evening drink in the arena pond. “It‟s showtime” - recent guest appearances sound-room. So, for the last couple of weeks we have at least we had a valid excuse for any poor or scratchy sound quality! Many Sanctuary visitors will recognize this large „ton of beef‟‟ (right) who has been making regular appearances dur- ing show-times as he comes to quench his thirst in the arena pond. Although this big, old bull is owned by a local man, he wanders the area and For the second year running a very doesn‟t really worry anyone. This slow brave pair of mocking chats have made -moving, gentle giant, is however just their nest (above) and raised their ba- a bit too big to argue with and tends to bies on the warm amp in the show automatically get given „right of way! Page 4

Have you ever wondered..? The perpendicular head action de- picted in the drawing alongside is very typical of young owls. Al- though very comical to watch, this, accompanied by much head bob- bing, is thought to provide owls with multiple sight readings of the same, or similar, objects to enable them to work out accurate aspect and distance. Science aside...I personally feel that humans probably look so funny to owls that they try to look at us side- ways in hope of a better result! Shannon

Thank you to Dee and Joe Steel and Marlies Scott for their donations in memory of John Richardson (JR) whose support and dedication to the Sanctuary will be sorely missed.

Feathered Friends

Azusa Pacific University Cinnamon and Nutmeg Barn Owls

Richard Scott The Taita Falcons Alan & Surina Knott-Craig Strata & Latro Tawny Eagles African NCP Alcohols Phoenix Vulture & Insomnia Barn Owl Bird of Prey Jacques Gray Arwyn the Burrowing Owl Sanctuary Thank you to all those who renewed their sponsorship for another

New at our POSTAL ADDRESS Front of House…... P.O. Box 288

In October we welcomed Umlaas Road, 3730 Pranitha Mooni to our African WWW.AFRICANRAPTOR.CO.ZA Bird of Prey Sanctuary team. She will meet you at the door FIND US ON FACEBOOK! and is the „face behind the Phone: +27 (0)31 785 4382 voice‟ to assist you telephoni- Fax: +27 (0)86 524 9048 cally with any queries and E-mail: [email protected] bookings. Pranitha lives locally so she already has a good un- derstanding of how things op- erate in the area, but also has the difficult task of keeping the rest of us in line! African Bird of prey sanctuary