Adios Lucas

We decided to keep Lucas a bit longer than George because of his head injury.

Unfortunately, he was getting antsy and wanted to be released. He spent some time bouncing around the aviary and we knew it was time.

Because I picked him up, I wanted to release him. I let Scott catch him up because he's much better at casting birds than me, and Lucas is a fighter. Afterward he transferred him to me for the taxi ride and release. We brought him to the takeoff and he was ready to go.

Without missing a beat he took off into the sky to join the other birds

Goodbye George!

Because he wasnt injured, we let George eat a bit, rest, and decided today would be a good release day.

After the first flight, we took him up in the taxi and let him go. His immediate reaction was to run away from the people, which put him a little higher on the hill. After a few seconds he gracefully took off, joining the paragliders in the sky. We watched him for a while and then joined him on Scott's glider.

Lucas is doing well, his head is healing and he's much better than he was when he arrived. Because of his wound, we will keep him a few extra days for monitoring and care.

Updates with photos soon
Xxx

Vulture Resturant

It's been a busy day!

First thing this morning we woke up and went to the vulture restaurant. We got there early, maybe 8ish and by 8:15 we had close to 80 vultures on the carcass. We were incredibly lucky to have the company of a Red Headed vulture, and two Cinereous Vultures in addition to White Backs and Himalayans. Both cow carcasses had been devoured within an hour and we headed home.

Upon arrival at Maya Devi, we had a phone call from Jess saying she saw a bunch of people crowded around a vulture. Scott had gone up for a flight, so I went to go see what was happening.

Although the story was unclear, there was a wet vulture laying down by the lake with a few men surrounding it. One had a kayak paddle and told me he hit the bird with it. "Lucas" was pretty out of it, and basically laid his head in my hands and didn't object to me carrying him away from that location. I wasn't sure if he'd be okay, he had a gash on the top of his head and wasn't struggling or showing any effort to resist me casting him.

The people on the other hand, followed me back to Maya Devi and wanted the bird back. They also brought the slingshot they used to hit the birds, which Scott broke. We had a bit of an argument, but we kept the bird.

Lucas's head wound:

George

A horse died close to Maya Devi. The carcass attracted some vultures, lots of White Back vultures and some Himalayans. After having such a large meal, the birds often have a hard time getting airborne. The weight of the food makes flight difficult, so they will typically sit around the site for a few hours or until the next morning. This behavior is fine in remote locations, but so close to humans it can be harmful for the birds.
It's common for children to use sling-shot/captipult toys to hit birds with stones. This obviously results in numerous injuries and can often kill the birds (if the rocks break a wing, they cannot fly to find food).
This evening, a local man saw a bunch of children throwing things at a vulture, he called us and we picked him up. We called the bird George, and he seemingly has no injuries and is doing well.

Photoshoot with Brad

We've been flying daily, the weather is amazing and the flights have been long and great for the passengers and the birds.

Down on the ground I spent some time with Brad yesterday and here are some photos from that session:

We are a bit slower this time of the season, so yesterday we went into town to distribute flyers to promote paragliding. Hopefully we can get some more bookings that way.

We also were given news this morning that two cows have died, which means we are also scheduling a trip to the vulture restaurant sometime in the next few days

Kevin Speaks Out

Here's a photo of Kevin looking intelligently at the camera. As if he's pondering something way beyond my grasp.

Nice one. However, recently Kevin, who has always been more quiet than Bob, has begun to vocalize. As far as we can tell, there's no apparent reason for this. Bob has been known to make noise when he's unhappy (if you wake him in the night, trying to put telemetry on), but this doesn't seem to be the case with Kevin. He starts talking to me the moment he can see me from his aviary. Then chattering to Scott on the way up to take off. He also does this when we are just around when he's in the weathering yard. It almost seems, if you were to anthropomorphize this, that he's looking for attention.

In other news, we've had some nice flights lately and we have a group coming by today. As it's colder at night we expect a cow to die soon, which would mean another visit to the vulture restaurant!

Videos

Here are some links to videos everyone should watch!

This first one is the EVCv4,Bob flying with Scott

Here's a video from the vulture restaurant

And lastly, a video that sums up Parahawking perfectly: here

EVCv4

On Sunday Scott pulled out the Egyptian Vulture Camera version 4, or EVCv4, and we did a short test flight from the hill behind Maya Devi down to the landing. It needed a few adjustments, but that's what test flights are for.

Yesterday was horrible weather, rain, fog, the whole bit. Of course with the sun missing, it was freezing. We couldn't test the EVCv4 again, and without flights, we hid inside for the day doing a whole lot of nothing.

Today Scott and I went up to the takeoff early to officially test out the EVCv4 with Bob. The footage turned out really good, there's parts when his face comes into view that are really funny (the camera is a backpack style attachment). Hopefully we can use this and more footage in the future. I'd like to also try the camera out on Kevin, but he's a little more sensitive to things like that.

We had two flights with Kev in the afternoon that were perfect! The conditions were great and the long flight properly tired him out.

Great trip to the Vulture Restaurant

We got up quite early and were on the road before the sun even broke over the mountains. It was bitterly cold, but we got some fresh cinnamon buns on the way there, so I was pretty satisfied with that.

Seeing that my previous visits were a little short of successful, I was a bit skeptical that this trip would be any better.

I was pleasantly surprised.

We arrived around 7:30 and the cow carcass was placed in front of the hide. Within minutes crows had begun to gather and call to each other, alerting friends of their incredibly good luck. The crows attracted the vultures, and around 8:15 we had our first interested Himalayan Griffon come sit close by in a tree.

Over the next 5 minutes more vultures began circling, and it was actually a White Back that came down to the carcass first.
This brave solider paved the way, and almost immediately close to a hundred vultures were fighting their way towards the middle of the group. We could not see even the slightest bit of cow carcass.

Within a half hour, 90% of the carcass had been eaten, those were some hungry birds!
We continued to watch the birds try to find any remaining scraps, but all that was left were bones. The sun was growing stronger and many of the birds were stretching out their large wings to catch as much as possible. Sunning is good for feather condition, but also helps to warm the birds up on such a cold morning.

In all, we counted close to 100 Himalayan Griffon vultures, about 15-20 White Back vultures, and we also observed two Red Headed vultures. The White Backs and Red Heads are threatened species, so as much as we'd like to have seen more of them, seeing the birds was a wonderful addition to the feed.

This weeks update

Nothing too exciting has prompted me to write soo erm but all is well here inNepal.
We've been flying lately and we have both happy customers and happy birds. The birds know their routines now and anticipate their flights.
We also have been working more closely with the other BueSky pilots, putting more time into teaching them about the birds. It's nice to have people interested in the birds and wanting to work more closely with them. Hopefully in this way, the pilots will all become more familiar with birds of prey, allowing them to fully understand and appreciate the conservation aspect of Parahawking.
As for our recent personal adventures, Friday evening we all went over to Visit friends for a nice BBQ. Then one of the motorbikes died and Scott, John, and I had to cram onto the other one.
Saturday Anita, Talo, Scott, John, amd I went out for breakfast. We sat by the lake and had a nice slow morning to wake up. Later we walked from town back to Maya Devi. The weather is comparable to a fall day in the states, the warm sun makes the cooler temperatures just tolerable, the wildlife also seem to enjoy these days. There are many birds in Nepal,and walking slowly allows you to notice just how amazing the biodiversity is.
Yesterday was Maya Devi's BBQ day (most of our evets seemingly revolve around food). The sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon to sit around, listen to music, and enjoy the company of friends.

Vulture Restaurant

Yesterday we went to to visit the vulture restaurant. When we arrived there were close to one hundred vultures feeding on a carcass just outside of the site. Although it was an awesome thing to witness, this meant we weren't going to see many vultures on our carcass.

We sat in the hide anyway, pulled out a bird identification guide, and got to it. We saw a magpie, some warblers, and watched the sky and thermals for any hungry vultures.

After a few hours the clouds started moving in. We had seen some birds thermaling, but none were keen enough to come down. Slowly two Egyptians made their way to the carcass, followed by a Himalayan Griffon. We were also fortunate to see some White Backed Vultures that had moved closer, but hadn't come down to feed.

Overall a success, it's always beautiful to go out to the village.

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish everyone a very happy New Year with lots of love for the year to come. I hope all my friends and family enjoyed this holiday season and I'll see you all in the spring!
As 2011 comes to a close and 2012 opens new doors and opertunities I'm incredibly grateful for the path I've been able to follow so far. At 22 I feel so lucky to have visited so many amazing places and learned not only about birds, but about people and culture. Traveling has changed my life in so many ways, and the knowledge I've learned on my trips wouldn't have otherwise been available to me. 
Ive started the year off in such a great place, not just my physical location but my career as well. I think I'm in a minority when I say I absolutely adore my occupation; I can't imagine living any other way. Being able to have worked with different species of birds and contribute to their conservation is such a great opportunity. I am hopeful for the future and that perhaps my efforts will effect the overall larger picture. Who knows where I'll be in 2012, but itll be best if I can keep contributing to this field.

As for our celebration, the Maya Devi bunch packed up and drove to Tiger Mountain to meet our other friends and spend the night. It was a beautiful resort with individual lodges. We sat around a large, circular indoor fireplace  talking and laughing, as it should be. We had an amazing dinner at 9:30, which was perfect timing and allowed all of us the extra energy to make it to midnight. Even Talo woke up for the occasion.
 
In the morning we were treated to tea in bed, followed later by a nice brunch. We slowly packed up and headed back, but the short trip was a great time and the best way to ring in 2012.
 
Today we are getting back into the routine and loving every minute of it :)