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Published: February 23rd 2008
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Eagle ghost
This eagle's flight was so ethereal, smooth and silent that it reminded me of a ghost. Notice the rounded wings, a trait found in forest raptors. It allows them to fly in the jungle without breaking off the tips of their wings; Ciudad del Saber, Panama City Riots in Panama City As some of you may have heard, on Feb 13th, a construction worker was shot and killed during a demonstration in Panama City. The union to which this worker belonged became outraged at the act and promptly turned violent. Riots began and several roads were closed, bonfires burned in the middle of streets, stones were thrown at cars and buildings and property was damaged. Police fired tear gas into the crowds to control them, but I think it backfired. Apparently they became more angry. I am not quite sure why the demonstrator was shot in the first place - it appears it was a peaceful demonstration demanding a raise in wages for construction workers, safer equipment and shorter work hours - all reasonable demands, I think.
We are not very close to Panama City, so be assured, the four of us bat-ladies are doing just fine. UT subscribes to International SOS, an organization that keeps an eye on dangerous situations around the world, round the clock. If one is found, the staff check to see if UT students are present in the area and immediately contact them to see if they are safe
Sean and Luigi
Here the eagle is just finishing his yummy rat (you can see the rat's tail dangling out of his beak); Ciudad del Saber, Panama City or if they need any assistance. I was contacted the following day via e.mail by UT to stay informed about the situation and to ask for help if I needed any at any time.
As of this writing, the protests are expected to last until the weekend and then die down. Click on this link to see some BBC photos from the first day of the riots:
Panama Riots in Pictures Hungry Harpy My friend, Ayesha Irani, and I met up a few days ago (the day the riots began) to have dinner. Ayesha is dating Sean Davis, the education program coordinator for the Peregrine Fund in Panama. While talking to him I discovered that he takes care of a captive harpy eagle which he uses for education purposes. He said he would be "flying" the eagle the following morning, so would I like to come and watch? He didn't have to ask me twice!
Not really sure about what it meant to "fly" an eagle, I, along with Katie, Katelyn and Rachel woke up at 7:30am to go part-way to town and watch Sean and his harpy. We reached at about 8:45am just as Sean was getting
Luigi the Harpy Eagle
Luigi has been born and raised in captivity, so this is the only life he knows. The chains around his ankles are not harmful or cruel, they are for his own safety; Cuidad del Saber, Panama City ready walk to the eagle's perch. We walked to a nearby field and there in a small area under a yellowing palm tree sat a beautiful 6-year-old male harpy eagle named "Luigi." He started bellowing a beautiful eagle cry at us as soon as we approached. Sean said Luigi had been born and raised in captivity and was used in his education programs in and around Panama.
He then told us to stand under a nearby palm tree to watch him fly the eagle. Since the eagle is captive, he doesn't hunt for his own food and therefore doesn't use his wings all that much. So to exercise him or "fly" him, Sean walks a few hundred yards away from the eagle, dangles a bit of meat and Luigi, like some sort of ghost, glides down from his perch and lands on Sean's leather-protected arm to grab the meat. Sean then walks Luigi back to the perch and repeats the action from varying distances. Of course, this only works when Luigi is hungry.
The whole feeding lasted about 30 minutes. Towards the end Luigi was losing interest in the rat that Sean was dangling and it took him
Luigi's cry
When we approached his perch, Luigi began to trill the way most eagles do. I forgot to ask Sean if it was a complaint or a hello; Cuidad del Saber, Panama City longer and longer to fly toward to get it! I was surprised to learn that such a large animal eats so little and so rarely. In the wild, the harpy preys on small mammals such as sloths, agoutis and monkeys. What is most astounding is how on earth this huge bird, with a wingspan of nearly 7 feet can glide through the thick jungle underneath the canopy without damaging his wings! Just one of the many wonders of the natural world.
Bat Update We are now in the process of working with our 7th and 8th bats! That is quite an accomplishment because this particular species is found less frequently so to have found and tested 8 bats within a month and a half is wonderful news! Bat 7 was caught on Valentine's Day and was named Valentino and Bat 8, who was caught the following night was at the peak of his reproductive phase that we named him Cassanova. He reminds me a bit of a frat boy. I call him frat bat.. he's all good looks and macho but when it comes to testing he is slow to learn and we've had to be
incredibly patient with him. Valentino who is younger, raced through the tests before Cassanova even caught on that flying to the speaker meant getting food! Once we are done with Valentino and Cassanova, we are taking a few days off to visit the highlands.
Santa Clara A couple of days ago, Rachel took us to the Pacific coast to spend a day at the beach. It was absolutely fabulous! The sand was white and soft and the ocean a deep, rich blue, cool and calm. As soon as we got there, all four of us rushed into the water, floated around and rode the waves until we were exhausted. We then napped on the sand and dried off before going to a tiny restaurant for a wonderful seafood lunch. I had delectable fried plantain cups stuffed with an assortment of spicy shrimp, fish and octopus and a pineapple batido (icy milkshake) to cool my mouth down after the spice. Before leaving, we asked some local fishermen to take us to a nearby island. They said they would if we paid them $30. That's Panama for you. So we paid them and sailed to this tiny island
Caspian terns and laughing gulls at Santa Clara
It is pretty hard to find terns resting on shore. They are usually flying around so it was exciting to get a good look at them. which turned out to be a seabird nesting colony. It was overgrown with cacti and among the vegetation were hundreds of frigatebirds! Frigatebirds are HUGE seabirds that you rarely see sitting down. The only ones I had ever seen were soaring high up in the sky. This was such a treat! We also discovered a beautiful sea cave through which the water was an exquisite shade of turquoise.
I was quite exhausted after the sea and the excitement of the frigatebird island and fell asleep on our drive back to Gamboa. As soon as we reached home, we ate a quick dinner and got ready for work. As you can probably imagine, none of us awoke the next morning until afternoon!
Hummingbirds I finally managed to take a photo of a hummingbird at our hummingbird feeder. I sat motionless for about 20 or 30 minutes with my camera focused on the feeder. I waited until I heard the wing vibrations which sound like a low "brrrrrrrrrr" and then clicked away as a hummingbird approached to feed. Of about 20 pictures, two or three turned out well. The hummer I caught on film was a gorgeous blue
Frigatebird island on the horizon
We asked some local fishermen to take us to the island which was about 10 minutes away by motorboat. and white one who didn't seem to mind my presence all that much. One of these days I hope to get a really fantastic shot!
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