Today we went to visit Eagle World in Bindslev (Northern part of Denmark) together with my mother in law. We had purchased these tickets as a present for her a while back, but hadn't gotten around to actually go there untill today.
Eagle World is a wildlife sanctuary for large birds of prey, and they have many large northern birds of prey such as golden eagles, white-tailed sea-eagles, gyrfalcons and peregrine falcons - they even have a couple of Steller's sea eagles - these giants came to the sancturay from Kamchatka in Northern Siberia and have a jawdropping wingspan of up till 3 meters. As one of them glided through the air close above us it was impressive to hear, how the wind whistled through the large feathers.
At the sanctuary there are competent trainers and falconeers taking very good care of these majestic birds. None of the birds were kept in cages but were free to fly around the sanctuary and the large open air arena, where we (the audience) sat.
At the back of the sanctuary there were the "stables", where the birds lived (had their nests, were fed etc.), and the audience were not allowed back there, since the sanctuary care about giving the birds a calm and private life, just as much as they care about providing learning about the nature and personality of these birds. We were told a lot of interesting information about these birds, how they live in the wild and at the sancturary, as well as very interesting information about what role these creatures play in the wild, and how important they are as a part of the ecosystem. Very very interesting!
At the sancturary we also saw a beautiful African black eagle (also known as a Verreaux's eagle), it was a female named Sheba weighing a little over 4 kilos. She walked freely and majestically like a queen between the visitors on the benches (we were told to sit still and not to touch her). It was an amazing experience seing this impressive creature up close and personal - I could have sat there for hours just watching her...
Last but definately not least we saw another magnificent bird - it was a bearded vulture named Barbatus. Bearded vultures are very rare and therefore part of a world wide protected breeding program. Bearded vultures are also one of the largest birds in the world, Barbatus for example weighs a whopping 8 kilos, and with his beautiful black and white feathers and the eye-catching orange-red ring around each eye he truly is a magnificent sight... I think I fell a little bit in love with Barbatus as we sat there watching him elegantly glide through the air... later we were lucky enough to get close to him as he waddled by on the grass right in front of us (this bird is definitely made for flying and not walking on the ground :-D), so todays shot obviously had to be of him :-).
Visiting the Eagle World sanctuary was truly a great experience, and we will definitely be back sometime in the future to see these majestic birds again.
P.S. Shooting fast birds flying in the air with a vintage manual lens is.... well ... challenging :-)...
Gear used: Olympus OM-D E-M5 + M42 to micro 4/3 Adapter + Super Komura 925, f4.5/90-250mm MC.
@arthurclark Thank you very much, Arthur.... I got a bit confused about the legs too, when I went through my photos :-.D... apparently I managed to take the shot right when it was in the middle of taking a step with these (two) huge and very feathery legs... :-D
@arthurclark .... I think the reason is, that the birds body is slightly angled towards me but its head is tarting to turn away from me... this creates a strange look where it seems like this is a four legged bird :-D But I can assure you the gorgeous thing had only two legs :-D
