Susann Kinghorn
24 April 2008
Windhoek — EACH of us has probably at some stage heard or read about the ringing of birds for the purpose of research.
How different, however, to experience it at first hand.
When Peter and Marilyn Bridgeford invited me to join them on a trip from Walvis Bay to the Namib-Naukluft Park with the aim of providing some more lappet-faced vulture chicks with a ring and marker, I was quite thrilled.
Thanks to Mola Mola Tours, which provided a third vehicle for this purpose, eleven nature lovers could leave the main harbour town of Namibia on a vulture excursion and head in an easterly direction in the early hours of a bright summer morning.
Through waypoints, which raptor expert Peter Bridgeford had saved in his GPS (Global Positioning System), we could head for exactly those trees on the plains of the Namib where vultures' nests were situated, which had been sighted and marked beforehand from a plane.
The first acacia tree was reached.
A mirror, fastened to a long metal arm, is swung over the tree to be able to see from the bottom whether the nest is occupied.
Every bird freak is overjoyed when the mirror reflects a dark brown plumage in a nest amongst the branches, padded with pieces of skin, hair and dry grass, as now the action starts! Dr Sandra Dantu climbs up the long ladder and first of all admires "her" baby with its strong beak, naked, pale-red to violet neck and skin growths on its head and neck.
She decides rather to send the much stronger Mark Boorman to the top to place the seven-kilogram chick in a bag and bring it down.
After everybody has properly admired the raptor, which belongs to the family of the Old World Vultures (Aegypiinae) - Lalie de Haas from Elgedo Tours and Services cannot resist kissing it right on its bald head - the length of its wings, tail and its weight are measured and its ankle and right wing are provided with a prominent marker.
At this stage it is extremely important to ensure that the marking patch is disinfected and the marker attached in such a way between sinews and cartilage that the bird does not feel anything.
Our chick does not even twitch an eye, just turns a darker shade of red, which indicates its excitement rather than any blushing of embarrassment.
Then it's time to end our young lapped-faced vulture chick's indisposition and to carry it up as quickly as possible back to its nest high above on the treetop, where it can once again sit highly enthroned above the barren desert landscape and wait for its parents' return to feed it with fresh meat and keep it warm.
Peter Bridgeford cautiously reminds everyone who has touched the chick to wash their hands afterwards so as not to transfer any harmful parasites.
He knows from personal experience what nasty consequences not strictly following this sanitary procedure can have.
Even though lapped-faced vultures (Torgos Tracheliotus or 'Swart Aasvoels') are not aggressive, they certainly make it clear when they feel threatened.
The observer instinctively bends backwards when a chick flaps its powerful wings and opens its beak wide.
Although it is incapable of flight at this stage, its wingspan is already 1,2 metres.
Since 1991 Peter Bridgeford and his helpers have ringed 558 lapped-faced vultures - in the past also known as King's vultures - in the Namib-Naukluft Park.
Should anyone discover a marked vulture, they should e-mail our friend of raptors at pmbridge@iway.na.
As a member of the Vulture Study Group and the environmental organisation Raptors Namibia, Bridgeford is on a mission to make people aware of the value of raptors so as to reduce the human threat they face.
The number of lapped-faced vultures in Namibia has declined because of poisons used by farmers.
Although Bridgeford acknowledges that farmers sometimes have to take drastic measures to protect their livestock, he pleads for a responsible use of poison in order to preserve the biggest flying bird on earth in all its glory for future generations.
One stands in awe of this fascinating bird with a wingspan of up to three metres, circling in the pale-blue sky.
It would be extremely sad if this sight was eliminated from our lives.
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