Spring is on the horizon...

At this time of year many birds are pairing up and getting ready for the imminent breeding season.

This year, falconers Rufus and Matt are working closely with potential breeding pairs to ensure they have the optimum environment to display this behaviour!

A variety of measures can be taken to make the birds’ surroundings more conducive to breeding, such as the location of their aviary, density of planting within, relative seclusion and size and location of nest box/nest site.

Falconer Rufus embellishes the tawny eagle nest site with suitable material.

Falconer Rufus embellishes the tawny eagle nest site with suitable material.

Mara and Sambura, the Tawny Eagles have lived together at the sanctuary for about ten years. In that time their interest in breeding has only progressed as far as some token nest building activity, suggesting that they may not yet be a fully bonded pair. For this reason Rufus and Matt decided to take steps to encourage a closer relationship between the two.

Rufus gathered a plentiful supply of material together to build a luxurious, robust eagle nest site and hopefully improve the ambience of their accommodation!

Sambura the male tawny eagle inspects the recent renovations!

Sambura the male tawny eagle inspects the recent renovations!

On close inspection, Sambura seems to approve of this innovation and the falconers will watch him and Mara closely to gauge any consequential developments in their behaviour.

That’ll do nicely, thankyou…

That’ll do nicely, thankyou…