A wee birdie.
At Amnéville they built a “Medieval Arena” to show their birds of prey, which has the advantage of high ramparts that allow them to fly even larger birds.
There’s going to be more pics, but the first bord was my absolute favourite because how can you top a South American Condor?
What a magnificent bird! The wing span looks huge. It must be amazing to see one in person and watch it fly. I haven’t seen the other birds from the zoo yet, but I can’t imagine one being more captivating than this guy. Great captures, Giliell, especially the one flying towards the camera.
Whoa. Beautiful pictures of a really magnificent beastie.
That’s a lot of Wednesday Wings. A magnificient bird indeed.
Magnificent. Thanks for not showing the close-up.
Oh, how beautiful. When I was a child we would go to Tracy Aviary every weekend and they had an Andean condor (actually I guess they still do). What an incredible bird… one day I walked up to the fence (I think I was about 15 years old at the time) and the condor walked up to me. I could not believe how big it was… it seemed to me it was nearly as tall as I was, and very imposing. I felt a little bit afraid and backed off a few steps but I think it was just hoping I would feed it. That was an amazing encounter I will never forget.
What a wingspan! In the immortal words of a well-known character, “Look at the size of that thing!” I also love the skull signs on the fence gates.
Skulls’n’Unicorns! -- I kinda like the decoration.
kestrel -- Most animals just come and quickly check if you’re going to feed them, but carrion eaters have this low key optimistic patience.
… After all, you could drop dead at any moment, and what’s a few more hours of waiting?
@lumipuna and rq: LOL! Yes, and if you do happen to drop dead, that beak will take care of you quite efficiently. You can not believe how big and strong that beak looks when you’re only a meter away.
naturalcynic
Sadly no close ups. I take bird of prey pics with the medium lens (55-180mm) because the stalker lens is just too slow (I could still bite my ass. I should have kept saving for a few months more and then buy the sport version) .
But just for you I’ll go looking for the close ups of our local griffin vulture…
+++
Can’t say I would mind. If I really dropped dead, not just took a nap, you know.