The Hawk Conservancy Trust is a wonderful place to visit as we found out on a day out in August. There is a wonderful atmosphere throughout the centre. Hawks are not the only bird that the charity takes care of. Mostly it is birds of prey including owls, kites, vultures and so forth.
Debbie was very impressed by the fact that you had time to appreciate the whole site and take in the displays. They were interspersed thoughtfully throughout the day giving you enough time to have lunch as well without feeling rushed!
Apart from the amazing birds that you can see really closely there are some excellent keepers as well! The first talk around the vultures enclosure set the scene. Now I’ve seen vultures in the wild and they’re not particularly something I go wild about. Ben the keeper had a mission though to cause us to love them by the end of his talk. He wowed us with facts about the vulture – and yes I like them more now especially for what they do. I shall explain.
Did you know that vultures are a food processor extraordinaire – par excellence?! I was astounded! Their digestive tract is able to withstand tropical diseases that we are not able too such as anthrax, malaria, cholera to name some. They break these diseases down when they eat. As they are the first on the scene for the clean up of dead meat they need to have strong stomachs. Vultures also point the way to other hungry organisms. Unfortunately poachers are also aware of this and lace the carcases with powerful poisons to stop them from showing game wardens and police where they have been taking ivory. The Hawk Conservancy have been helping to finance kits to innoculate from the poisons.
In some areas vultures have nearly been wiped out due to an anti-inflammatory drug which has had a catastrophic affect on them. Work is being done to curb its use. www.hawk-conservancy.org/conservation-research/overseas/gvrp/
We were also introduced to Delores a female Griffon vulture which had come from a Russian Zoo. She had from very young been fed the wrong kinds of food and had suffered for it in not developing properly due to lack of calcium. Delores has the human equivalent of rickets.
The best part for me during the day were the ambient flying displays. They were incredibly moving no pun intended! I have not experienced anything quite like it! The bird handlers know their birds so well they let them fly off quite some distance. The birds have been trained to come back, obviously it’s food related but all the same…
In the African display you are introduced to a few of the characters individually. There is a large area which looks like an African savannah, beautifully landscaped. They release different species of birds to fly around you with an African music soundtrack. You have to be there! The birds actually are trained to fly to different members of staff who are strategically placed around the outside theatres. If you get a staff member behind you an amazing owl, hawk or bird of prey will end up flying right at your face. Ducking is essential as they do not move out of the way!
For the vulture It’s about feeding on the right food. Being trained by the keepers, even though captive they are free to fly. They have learnt that their food is from the trainer. The lesson; as we are yoked to the Lord our master, another analogy, we move and enjoy freedom best as we lean on him as the birds leaned on their master. He provides for the cattle and for the young raven’s when they call. Psalm 147:9. The birds were trained from a young age; born again as it were, to a new life, a new life where all things are possible with God!