birds of prey

[square_peg]

MY LADDIE LOST 5

FRED44 HAS 4 HENS ADRIFT

CLUB MATE HUTCHIE 3

ALL FROM TOP OF LOFT   ALL WITHIN 1.5 MILE RADIUS  

ALL DOO,S TRAINED OR RACED  F@@@@N HAWKS  >

[Guest]

Latest on bird of prey deaths in Europe due to avian flu (H5N1) - OIE Website, today:

 

GOSHAWK (Germany, 8th Feb, posted previously)

 

PEREGRINE FALCON (Slovak Republic, 20th Feb)

 

BUZZARD (Italy, 22nd Feb)

 

 

[jimmy white]

IM SURE THE PUBLIC COULD BE SWAYED NOW, INSTEAD OF REFERRING PIGEONS AS FLYING RATS, ITS THE HAWKS THAT SHOULD BE CALLED FLYING RATS, EATING ALL KINDS OF INFECTED BIRDS, AND POSSIBLY BEING A GREAT DANGER IN SPREADING THIS DESEASE, BRUNOS QUITE RIGHT ABOUT THESE LAST THREE BUT THERES BEEN ONE HELL OF A LOT MORE SINCE THIS STARTED  AMERICAN NEWSPAPERMENTION "59 BIRDS MOSTLY HAWKS AND SWANS " 24 FEB .IM NOT SURE BUT THINK IT WAS INDIA

[Guest]

Came accross another more common disease that they are susceptible to ... frounce ... canker to you and I ... and the blurb said they catch it the same way, eating infected birds ... er pigeons that is. Naughty pigeons.

[jimmy white]

I AGREE WITH THE POSTS THAT THE PIGEONS DO GET STREETWISE TO THE HAWKS, BUT THAT DOESNT STOP THEM GETTING THEIR DINNER, AS I SAID B4 MY MATE WORKS ON HE FORTH RAIL BRIDGE AND SEES THE PERIGRINE KILLING EVERY DAY, AS FOR THE WHITE ONE, WELL THAT LASTED ONE AND A HALF YEARS ,BUT MR HAWK GOT IT IN THE END, ITS BAD ENOUGH FOR THEM TO KILL AND EAT THE BIRD ,BUT ITS THE THE RACING BATCH THAT GET PANICKED AND WILL FLY IN TO ANYTHING , WOODS , WIRES ,CARS EVEN BUILDINGS, IVE SEEN IT,SO ITS NOT EVEN JUST THE ONE THEY KILL ITS THE REST THAT GET INJURED, AND IM QUITE SURE THESE BIRDS NEVER RACE THE SAME AGAIN, SO I SAY THEY ARE THE FLYING RATS ,SPREADING ALL SORTS OF DESEASE, EVEN AVIAN FLU, AS THESE BIRDS TRAVEL AS WELL

[THE FIFER]

WELL SPOKEN JIMMY

[Guest]

Extract from a letter in todays Scotsman:

 

Wider Wildlife Concerns

 

"... as chair of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association I applaud Rhona Brankin's (deputy environment minister)  initiative to save the red squirrel.

 

However by concentrating only on the threat posed by grey squirrels, some of her advisers are pulling the wool over her eyes.

 

Predators such as goshawks and pine marten are indiscriminate killers of endangered wildlife such as black grouse and red squirrel ....

 

Scottish Natural Heritage has to face the fact that it cannot continue to defend one protected species that is decimating another (if) ... future generations are to inherit a balance of wildlife.

 

Alex Hogg, Braemar.

 

 

[tam pepper]

 

                    extract from songbird survival groupwinter 2006

 

 

one kestrel managed to destroy almost a years new stock  of several hundred little tern chicks on a beach at yarmouth this summer

the RSPB thought this colony of 200 pairs of comparatively rare little terns importtant enough to mount an expensive operation to gaurd against land based  predators  but could do little against a protected raptor. the kestrel did not die ,of course ,when it ran out of tern chicks but no boubt moved on to something else .

 

 

 

this illustrates the ridiculous conservation policy we have got ourselves into                                                          tam pepper

[Pompey Mick]

Does the Peregrine have set feeding patterns, when is it most active?  I ask this because I am hoping to train a small team of latebreds next week from a building site I shall be working on.  I know that there is an established Peregrine nest on route and I would like to know what would be the least risky times to liberate, I shall be on site all day.

[tam pepper]

 

 

                   hi mick ,

                                     you might be luckymick and not get a strike on your birds , i dont think they have set patterns for hunting , they would visit my lofte maybe two or theee days on the trot , then stay away for a week or a fortnight , they are unpedictable i think ,

i had 1 in captiveity , a male, a pigeon would last it three days ,  [   feral pigeon   ] the pigeon would be stripped of all flesh and the bones scraped white, the intestines were eaten  the only remains were the skin and feathers  the head was snipped of first i might addit woulturn the bird upside down and start at the crop and work its way to the vent.

it never allowed me to see it eating but i observed scrapes along the chest of the pigeon as though it was skinning it with its huge feet , the feet has rough callousise at the joints on the under side of its toes the heel toe , the talons are long and pointed , i might add they are not as fast as they they are cracked up to be , the youg birds could make them look foolish , the only bird they managed to catch was stock birds which were not out very often , ihad to kill more birds than it caught as they came back to the loft like rockets , thats the only time you will see your birds flat out ,

if bye chance you witness a strike , you will be able to get the culprit as they come back for the kill lik the sparrowhawk, they also take carrion at the nest site , they are very nice looking birds , but not very inteligent mick i know this is not helping you with your problen , but it may help when 1 comes knocking on your door                                                        tam pepper

[jimmy white]

spot on tam pepper

[Webmaster]

The bird is a yearling cock which was taken off the loft last Saturday. I was in the house, and by the time I got to it the Sparrowhawk had removed all the flesh from it's back and neck. It was still alive and you could see it's internal organs and heart etc still beating. I culled immediately.

 

First one this year but probably not the last.

 

Doostalker

[Guest]

Hi

A Perigrinne Strike on the young birds this afternoon.A red hen taken out Clean as a whistle, So looks like trouble in the furure around the loft

Ex_Pat

[westy]

baskets them hawks are.

[perk]

this year up till now i,ve two killed,one badly hurt and three more that have been hit, every time i wait for it (with a surprise)  bloody thing does not show. i,ve had to change my routine so every things done and ready for when they land and call them in. even having to put bath in the traps.  

[Guest]

Hawks make a mockery of those who say you need to stick to a strict routine for the birds. My strict routine is to be as irregular in the times that the birds get out as is practicable. And I'm always there with them.

[tam pepper]

  

 

             the damage to that bird was not done in a few minutes ,more like half an hour a springer trap would have got the culprit ,  your going to be targeted again shortly ,  thats for sure , you have to be like bruno and be watching your birds all the time ,

 

                                                          tam pepper

[Guest shadow]

Thats fine if they are hitting them on the loft does not help with perigrines have lost 8 since christmas 6 cocks 2 hens my race team is now down to 24 before the season starts heaven help my young birds when they are big enough to go out. Living in lincolnshire I did not think we would get them but a pair built their nest in an oil refinery just up the road last year so we now have the pair plus their two young flying about, if this keeps up I can see me packing up at the end of this season.

[tam pepper]

 

 

                                  SATURATION POINT

 

            IS THERE A SATURATION POINT , WHEN IT IS REACHED WHAT IS THE GAME PLAN ,  THE PLAIN FACT IS THERE IS NO GAME PLAN , THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY THE R.SP.B..

RAPTORS WILL BE CONTROLLED BE THE AVAILABILITY OF THEIR PREY ,  IN OTHER WORDS THE WILD BIRD POPULATIONS ARE GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE DECIMATED  AND OUR BIRDS ARE GOING TO HARRASED EVEN MORE WHEN FLYING OUT, RACING, AND TRAINING,

         I AM TOTALY CONVINCED THAT RACES ARE BEING DISRUPTED BY PEREGRINES ,IT WOULD BE FOOLISH OF US TO THINK OTHERWISE,I  PERSONALY HAVE HAVE BIRDS HOME WITH DAMAGE FROM A PEREGRINE STRIKE , IF THEY ATTACK OUR BIRDS IN TRAINING YOU CAN SAFELY ASSUMETHE SAME IS HAPPENING IN RACES .

THEE WEEKS AGO I WAS GIVING MY JULY BIRDSA RUN FROM 20MILES ,THE BIRDS WERE LET OUT AND IMMEDIATLE STARTED THE QUICK ZIG ZAG MOTION THAT THEY DO WHEN A PEREGRINE IS THREATENING THEM ,  I NEVER SAW THE PEREGRINEAS IT WAS A BRIGHT SUNNY MORNING , THE BIRDS WERE ARRIVING ALL DAY AND THE NEXT MORNING ONE OF THEM A HEN HAD PRIMARY AND SECONDARYFLIGHTS MISSING NO OTHER DAMAGE , A NEAR MISS I THINK , THERES STILL 2 TO COME HOME THAT WAS THEIE FIFTH TRAININGRUN THE 3RD FROM THAT POINT .

           THE MAJORITY OF THE RINGS I FIND AT THENEST SITE NEAREST TO ME ARE N.W. FEDERATION BIRDS ,  THEY FLY THROUGH THIS AREA WHEN THERE THERE IS WEST IN THE WIND

 

NORTH OF THE FORTH IN FIFE THERE ARE  A PAIR ON LONGANNET POWER STATION CHIMMEY  A SINGLE BIRD ON THE FORTH RAIL BRIDGE A PAIR AT INVERKEITHING QUARRY , A PAIR AT THE GOAT QUARRY NR CROSSGATES A PAIR AT ORROCK QUARRYNR THE PETRO CHEMICAL PLANT , A PAIR IN THE PETRO CHEMICAL PLANT, A PAIR IN REDCRAIGS TOLL QUARRY , A PAIR IN THE HILLS AT LOCH GLOW A PAIR IN NIVINSTONE CRAGS NR CLEISH ALL WITHIN TEN MILES OF OF MY LOFT , AND THE IRONIC PART IS THE RSPB ARE SAYING THEY ARE STILL RARE , WHEN THE ARE NOT WHO IS TRYING TO TAKE THE MICKEY AND HOODWINK THE PUBLIC .                                                                                                                                                                        TAM PEPPER

[jimmy white]

exactly that shadow, the sparrow hawks are nipping them at the loft, but the perigrines are the ones that will hit a batch[ or race batch], kill one and the rest are so disorientated and injured by flying in to any thing. and as tam pepper says a ten mile radius round him, thats a ten mile radius round most fanciers.the answer must lie in our own hands, somehow??

[Guest]

I personally think the RSPB sit in their office laughing their tits off at pigeons fanciers, probably reading these forums and letters of complaints from pigeon fanciers. I cant see how they can introduce birds which they know in their own mind are killing other birds. I will admit birds of prey are nice looking birds but enough is enough, we are part of nature, so surely we should be allowed to kill birds of prey that are becoming a pest in our local vicinity. I just hope if this bird flu does kick off in this country, it wipes hawks and peregrines out and they are found to be to blame for any spread, that would shake the RSPB up a bit.

[tam pepper]

 

 

             ha ha ha shelbin i,m sure they are

 

                                                                 tam pepper

[Guest]

Other species of predator fall victim:--

 

 

Associated Press

Published: Thursday, March 09, 2006 Article tools

Printer friendly

   E-mail

   Font: * * * * BERLIN -- The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in a weasel-like mammal called a stone marten, a German laboratory said Thursday, indicating the disease has spread to another animal species.

 

The Friedrich-Loeffler Institute confirmed the presence of the virus in the marten, a carnivorous mammal with brown fur and a white throat patch. The animal was found sick and apparently dying on the island of Ruegen in northern Germany on March 2.

 

It was then killed by a government veterinarian, the institute said in a statement.

 

The deadly strain of bird flu was found in a cat on the same island last month, the first time the virus has been identified in an animal other than a bird in central Europe. Infected cats have since been found in Austria.

 

"The presence of an H5N1 infection in a second mammalian species is not surprising," Till Backhaus, the regional minister for agriculture, said in a statement. "Cats and martens have a comparable prey spectrum."

 

Cats are believed to have caught the virus by eating infected birds.

 

 

Cat sanctuary in France has increasing numbers of cats being abandoned there through bird flu fears ...........

[Guest]

Great it will give me a chance to get rid of my cats, Ill dump them at out local cat sanctuary, Ive needed an excuse LOL!!!

[samantha]

i lost one of my nicest birds to a hawk a few weeks ago, i only had 5 birds so it seems harder to loose one, one i had from a baby too, did break my heart to see it being eaten  :'(   but i have learnt not to let them out so early in the day, it was my fault, just inexperience i suppose