Birds of Prey Demonstration

Last year I attended a birds of pray show in Goudswaard, the Netherlands, organized by roofvogelsenuilen.nl. I took quite a few decent pictures which I’ll be sharing with you in this post.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Oehoe

The first bird that was shown, if I remember correctly, is called a European Eagle Owl of 5 weeks. This is sadly the best picture that I have of it. It looked very cute and fuzzy, and walked funny (at this age, it is not yet able to fly).

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Afrikaanse Vlekken Oehoe

Next was a Spotted eagle owl.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard

Some of the names of these awesome birds have sadly escaped me, like this one.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Kookaburra Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Kookaburra

This is a Kookaburra. They showed two of them; Aiko and Eli. They make a funny sound. :)

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Falkland Caracara

This is a Falkland Caracara. These birds search for food on the ground, and do so by turning everything around with their claws. At the birds of prey demonstration, this bird turned plastic cups upside down that were placed on the ground.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Witkopgier Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Witkopgier Roofvogelshow Goudswaard - Witkopgier

This epic bird is a White headed vulture. It is a female named Zazu, weighing 4 kilos. It is the second largest vulture in Africa and only very few birds are still in existence. The white headed vulture is so strong, it can even catch an antilope.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard

The wings of this bird are colored red on the bottom. Very beautiful.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard -Slechtvalk

This should be the Peregrine falcon, pardon me if I’m wrong. In the demonstration, the guy showed how the bird protects its food (prey) by covering it with its wings, as seen in the picture.

Roofvogelshow Goudswaard -Amerikaanse Zeearend Roofvogelshow Goudswaard -Amerikaanse Zeearend

Last but definitely not least – my personal favorite – the American Bald Eagle. The most well-known birds of prey. The American Bald Eagle is completely dark when born – only when they reach adulthood, they will have a fully white head and tail. This takes 7 years. This bird is common in North America and eats fish, birds, mammels and bait.

The show took over an hour and actually was timed perfectly; right after the American bald eagle, the last bird they showed, it started raining pretty badly.

Views: 1584

2 Comments

No comments yet. Why don’t you start the discussion?

Comments are closed