From my Hide: How to sponsor a vulture…
David Holt-Biddle has news of a new vulture project and the oldest ringed bird.
IF you or your company have always wanted to sponsor a vulture, but didn’t know how, here’s your chance. This note arrived the other day from BirdLife Trogons, the local branch of BirdLife South Africa.
‘The Oribi Vulture Viewing Hide Conservation Project would like to offer the unique opportunity for individuals and corporates to sponsor a satellite transmitter for an ongoing research programme for our Cape vulture breeding colony. A representative from each sponsor will have the opportunity to watch their adopted vulture being fitted with its transmitter and then released during the tagging process next month.’
‘The vulture will then be allocated a name chosen by the sponsor. The sponsor will also receive a digital photograph taken with their vulture and regular email updates on the progress of their bird. Each transmitter costs R25,000 and there is no limit on the number of transmitters per sponsor.
‘The research is being carried out by Professor Dana Berens of Marburg University in Germany. If you are interested in more details of Professor Berens’ research on vultures you may go to https://www.gyps-coprotheres.net/.’
To apply for your special sponsorship email Andy Ruffle at bookings.vulturehide@yahoo.co.za and the closing date for applications is January 18. Remember that the Oribi Vulture Viewing Hide is a conservation project of BirdLife Trogons Bird Club in association with the landowner and if you haven’t spent a happy hour in the hide with the vultures yet, you’re missing an amazing experience. Email Andy about that too.
Staying with birds, but making a huge leap in time and space, we have the world’s oldest ringed bird*. Wisdom, a Layan albatross, is back with her mate (albatrosses tend to pair for life) on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the western Pacific Ocean and she is sitting on eggs, again.
This in itself is perhaps not that extraordinary, but what is, is the fact that Wisdom was first ringed in 1956 when she was thought to be five years old. At 64 this makes her the oldest known ringed bird in the world and she’s still doing her bit for her species — she’s raised between 30 and 35 chicks. As a matter of interest their normal lifespan is somewhere between 12 and 40 years, so Wisdom must be getting all sorts of things right.
Remember that BirdLife Trogons conducts regular bird ringing exercises and if you would like to observe this fascinating procedure why don’t you visit their website https://birdlifetrogons.blogspot.com/.
And finally, after a rainstorm the other night we noticed some rather lovely flowers had suddenly appeared on the verge. Apparently they are known as storm lilies (Zephyranthes grandiflora) or Flower of the West Wind (isn’t that beautiful?).
They are the palest pink with blue-green leaves and tend to all face in the same direction. They were originally from South America, but have now been fully naturalised here in coastal South Africa. What a treat, cheers!
*Care2 Causes.
