Simon Thomsett

Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles, Rosy and Girl in Naivasha, Uncategorized | Date: Sep 29 2008 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

From Sarah Higgins:

At 1.45 this afternoon, Rosy laid claim to his new territory!

This is the first time that he has used his territorial call since he has been in Naivasha. It was also the first time that I have ever heard a Crowned Eagle’s full cry and I was momentarily confused by this unknown sound. But then my heart swelled with joy - Rosy is feeling at home enough to start laying claim to his new patch. So - another milestone is passed, and I am sure that Girl too will be taking comfort from her male’s warrior cry.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 12 2008 | By: simonthomsett

Rosy sits outside right now eating contentedly on the lawn. He is not alone as Tim the Lanneret has come back after a few days out on his own, and sits on his perch about 10m away. Things are looking bright and fresh.

The rains broke 3 days ago, and with it came an end to the dry season. It is a harsh time, extenuated by the sudden prevalence of many hundreds of starved cattle that have been settled near to my house. They flatten the land and turned it within weeks into a dust bowl. The wildlife scattered and the water resources were limited only to the livestock. I will never be convinced, no matter how indoctrinated that livestock is good for wildlife conservation.

With the dry season comes irritability. As the drought proceeds, people become fractious. In truth, the immediate environment so dictates peoples lives that moods can swing from day to day because a lot depends upon the weather. At no other time is there more social unrest than when there is a drought. As if to prove the point, I was raided again by two thugs a few weeks ago who approached Jonathan and I armed with clubs and machetes. They turned away only when faced with a greater adversity. The pattern is obvious. I have learned through experience to associate cattle with insecurity.

The dry season is not, as many people think, the warmest. Tourists and film crews come specifically for the dry season assuming it to be warm with blue skies. But it is usually cool with grey days, but latterly there has been high winds and dust with a few clear skies. Suddenly the afternoons fell quite, and the temperature shot up. Heat and humidity rose to a point that made all on edge. Lone wildebeest stood staring at the ground for hours in the heat haze. Zebra herds stood still, chins on the back of friends. Vultures circled each noon over dead animals. We have seen droughts that kill thousands of animals. The birds sang, especially the Hildebrant’s Starlings. Stupid birds! Groups of birds formed and sat in the tops of trees and sang. Idiots! There was no way it was going to rain.

At mid day and in the afternoons, we sought out the shade. In the bird sheds, the temperature could have cooked bread. Girl (Rosy’s mate) and Mutt the Lammergeyer sit in enclosed sheds now. The temperature made them very quiet.

Would it end, or would it be another severe drought?

Over the last two weeks, the clouds gathered each day and threatened to burst. They were black and turgid with rain. The flat bottoms of rain clouds seem perfect and solid. Above them curl mounds of clouds that shoot over 20,000ft into the sky. The temperature soared and we all prayed. It never came. The wind blew it all away and the birds stopped singing.

But 3 days ago the rain started. Not a huge dramatic downpour, but light. That is good because hard rain on denuded soil destroys the land. Immediately all our moods changed. The birds sang again. They have only a few weeks to build nests and breed. Most do not succeed as this is the short rains, but they will try.

I heard my first Eurasian Bee Eaters this week, high up out of sight. They call in the new year. As soon as they arrive, I start looking out for other migratory birds. I saw my first 2 Eurasian Hobbies too, flying low against the high wind that carried rain. I would have overlooked them had Tim not been feeding on my fist and looked up. They look like him and the local small bird community let out a warning cry thinking they are in danger. Soon though, after they have seen a few dozen more, they will cease their warning cries as Hobbies at this time of the year are harmless. Eating only airborne insects in and near rain fronts.

As soon as the grass turns green, the cattle will go and with them the noisy herders. Their nightly shrieking and yelling has subsided too. Things will return to normal and the cheetahs will come back to hunt near my windmill on the hill.

I wonder what this house will look like when we have all left. But I am not that sad now and anxious to get out and away. I do love these plains but things have changed. Rosy is now the principle thing holding me back. It is ironic that it was he who started it all 30 years ago, and it is with him that this big chapter of my life will soon end. I do hope one day to pick up again with him and his mate Girl. Meanwhile I do not have the means to give them what they deserve.

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Tags: Cattle, Drought, Migration, Rain

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 02 2008 | By: simonthomsett

Paula Kahumbu came over with her son Josh over the weekend and sat me down in front of the computer for an intense course. She used a new cell phone modem that cut through the fog and finally I was able to see the Wildlife Direct web site in the comfort of my own computer!

I noted with delight that I have been given quite a bit of money. Some $400 has been donated by three people. It is all the more  generous as I have never specified what I need money for, and to be honest I never thought I would get donations. Now that I have, I must first acknowledge how grateful I am, and also confide in those that support this work that I have had to make a lot of changes of late.

I am grateful to Fineley, Teresa and Antonio and can tell you all that I shall probably put this money into saving the sight of Rosy the male Crowned Eagle. I shall have to post this particular story soon, but in short,Rosy now 32 years old has cataracts in both eyes. He now sits on his shed floor with his mate occasionally descending from the nest tree above to help feed him. He must have an operation that can restore his sight to near normal. Frustratingly, the very laws put in place to help protect wildlife, instead of assisting and expediating the process have conspired to thwart his emergency export to the only animal eye hospital in Africa. I have a quote for the operation at some 14,797 Rand(about $2140) info@animaleyehospital.co.za (without airfare). I shall now try to raise funds for this project, perhaps through this blog.

In the last year there have been many changes in the life of my raptor collection due to necessary changes in how I live and support myself financially. I have not earned any money for this last year, having asked my former employer that I retire in order to re-evaluate my priorities. The reasons were mostly due to a domestic personal down-turn of events but inflation and increasing lack of security in the immediate area were additional factors.

This entails closing down all operations at Game Ranching Athi River where the birds and I live. I have actively tried to get the collection to its lowest for some years now, recognising that I cannot work, meet expectations and keep a menagerie of wild animals at the same time. The birds down from some 20, to 9 in the last year to now only 6. Most have been released (as is the objective) and others will be given new homes. I plan to be able to return to this former life, with some of my old collection of birds if possible once I am more secure and better able to manage them to a standard they deserve.

Far from backing out I hope to become more effective and better able to financially support these animals. I intend to get some important data regarding the status of raptors throughout Africa and ultimately earning some revenue.

I will be driving throughout Africa with Laila gathering material for a series of reports and books on raptors. Laila Bahaa-el-din is as passionate about raptors and conservation of wildlife as I.  She is a highly talented stills photographer and travelled widely working with monkeys, cheetah, tigers, vultures on three continents. She also knows how to organise and most importantly how to run a computer with all its unintelligble communication problems that so inhibit me. She will soon be writing on this blog, introducing the across Africa Raptor Expedition.

Thanks again to all of those that check in from time to time and especially to those who have donated.

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Tags: Cataract, Crowned Eagle, Operation, thanks

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 20 2007 | By: admin

23rd to 24th Nov 2007.

Munir, Pat and I caught the afternoon train in Delhi and arrived late that same day at Sawai Madhopur. Ranthambhore the quintessential ‘Tiger’ park of India was our destination. We were to stay in a lodge on the outskirts of the park. It needs some explanation for those who may have visited other lodges in Africa where they are placed within the park or reserve and are typically situated overlooking a grand natural vista or a waterhole teeming with wildlife. In India this experience, although certainly possible, is not available in the same manner. Instead the lodges are placed outside and are usually fenced off or even surrounded by a high wall excluding wildlife. Although there is a lot to be said in keeping lodges, infrastructure and especially people outside of protected areas (for the good of wildlife); this is not the rationale.

Some camps and lodges do attempt a more natural setting, but apparently they are not so popular among local tourists that make up a significant proportion of the tourists visiting the parks. The government stipulations may encourage the segregation of tourists from wildlife, presumably fearing that a wacky tourist may decide to go jogging and get taken out by an errant animal. Or more sensibly to ensure that the wildlife receives minimum harassment and some peace at least for a portion of the day. Whatever the case it is a pity as one misses out on so much of the wildlife experience. One cannot for example, lie awake at night and listen to the sounds of the “jungle”, the sawing grunt of the leopard, the bark of the deer or the hoot of a Fishing Owl. There is no question of being able to back-pack in solitude away from the maddening crowd alone and “at one” with the wilderness. I can understand this given that tigers are seemingly evolved to munch humans. But in areas where tigers are few the dangers do not compare to that encountered in African reserves where bush walking safaris are allowed. There is no private or community owned land of the same scale in India with large wildlife in which one can wander about camping. There is a move toward it and tourism could greatly benefit if it offered outdoor activities and light bush camps. India could learn as much from African wildlife tourism as we could from their intensive management of their parks.

Given these stipulations the lodges themselves have a particular charm. They focus more on the client’s comfort and cuisine. We were fortunate to be staying in one of the best called Dev Villas. Unfortunately Laila had arrived just ahead of us and had been abandoned at the railway station for hours, which is a miserable experience. She had however made good of the afternoon and had gone on an open bus into the park and had seen two tigers.

The next morning we awoke at 6AM, and bundled up with blankets in the back of an open Maruti/Suzuki Jeep, for a drive around the park in the buffer zones to count vultures. Our routine was to drive to locations where there were Long-billed Vulture nests. Although some nests where within the park most lay outside. Munir had a massive file of photos of the cliffs taken previously with nest sites marked on the enlarged prints. Vultures after a few millennia leave very obvious “white wash” in pot holes, ledges and outcrops of rock. It is a simple matter to check these places and see what the vultures are doing. Pat squinted down the scope and read out the number and whether or not it was occupied by a vulture that was sitting/standing/ nest building/incubating etc. Munir then wrote the data down. Laila assisted in data collection and spotted other vultures or nests and I annoyed everybody by double checking and making asinine comments that the vulture was squatting, not sitting, and facing left not right. I had to be very careful in my jest as these things were taken very seriously. But I have to admit the level of detail left little or no room for error. I was learning, but quickly despaired of the enormity of the task when the time came to making head or tail of so much data. Luckily it isn’t my job.

Munir and Laila checking nests on cliffs.

Our duties included spotting raptors of any kind. We enjoyed the challenge, it kept us on our toes, whether we were driving or counting vultures.
Most of our time at Ranthambhore we spent outside the park. I was especially keen to visit a cliff that I had seen in 2003. This buffer zone area is rich in wildlife and Pat and Munir regularly walk the base of a large section of cliffs counting vultures. I was not very well on that particular day, so when we spotted a dead vulture spread over its nest I offered to stay behind and see if I could get it. They went on and completed the count to finish at a small temple in which they found “the stone hurling guru”. Meanwhile I climbed the cliff using a fairly easy route but got sidetracked half way up. I videoed a vulture on the nest with a chick only a few meters away. But that was not what took my attention. Earlier I had seen leopard tracks lead to this same cliff, and I heard a Nilgai (Blue Bull) snort and trot away towards me when I approached the cliff base. I heard a few barks and cackles from the Langur Monkeys. Corbett wrote that these” little people” of the jungle would keep him informed of the movements of tigers and leopards. They sounded just like Vervet monkeys looking at Leopard. So I squirrelled along the cliff until I could see where a small troop perched just above me were looking. I sat for a good hour, when in broad daylight the leopard walked along the cliff edge slightly higher than I. I got some memorable video as he ambled along with no idea that anyone was around. I scrambled up the last section, and tracked him into a river bed and large cavern, where he reappeared briefly before heading on deeper into more extensive woodland. I treasured this moment more than any tiger sighting.
This time the “team” duplicated the same cliffs, but in reverse. We first visited the temple, set up our scope on the vulture nests only 100m away and begun counting. We had earlier seen a very unusual display by a Red headed Vulture. Two of them cruised high overhead, then one dropped in a side to side roll and stooped in a manner that would have made a Bateleur Eagle proud onto a young Bonelli’s Eagle. Pat really emphasised the need to consider this species in a very different light and we all agreed it is a species begging for research. The Red Headed Vulture is a very odd vulture in many ways more racy and eagle-like than the Lappet-faced or White headed Vultures of Africa. It appears in shape a little more like the White headed Vulture, despite having a face more similar to the Lappet-faced.

For comparison. A Red Headed Vulture (Indian) with a White Headed Vulture (African) pasted in behind.

While on the temple roof a Common Kestrel, presumably from Eurasia busied himself nearby. I suspect he was a resident as there is little evidence to suggest otherwise. Then a Shikra appeared. Beneath our feet Rhesus Macaques wandered about. Then we went to the shrine itself embedded in the cliff wall where each of us took off our shoes and bent down to a small enclave in which water dripped permanently from a fig root onto a smooth rock. Here each of us was blessed and given a tika on our foreheads. Despite being normally reserved I went along with it and appeared with a red dot and felt all the better for it. We all did so and as it is bad luck to wipe it off, it remained for the rest of the day.
I did not get to see the leopard, but I think we all appreciated the walk watching birds, fragile Thomson’s gazelle-like Chinkara gazelles, Nilgai and Langurs. At one point we had stopped to look at some distant cliffs that needed a walk off the road. I looked down and there had just recently passed a large male leopard. A tiny motorbike barely able to support to large men struggled past and stopped. We told them we had seen leopard tracks, and they replied that the leopard had taken a goat in the village last night and had walked in this direction. Everyone seems to know the local leopard and has up-to-date news on what it is up to. Incredulously to me, no-one was in any way upset about it taking livestock (a capital offence back home and a matter likely to fan the flames of dissatisfaction towards wildlife), nor worried about it in any way.

Rufous Treepie.

Treepies are a noisy ubiquitous bird. They were particularly tame at a guard station that was under construction. Later we heard a group clamouring in a bush and went over to see a snake glide out of the tree and into a hole.

Of raptors in general we were struggling to find many. Given that our focus was on cliffs, a habitat that favours large falcons as well as eagles and ridge soaring migrant raptors, the paucity of sightings obliged us to return to our old conclusion: that being that India has either very few raptors, or that there has been a dramatic decline. A cursory glance in the field guide gives all sort of species as being resident or migrant in this region. But except for the Shikra, a few Black shouldered Kites, one Short-toed Snake Eagle and 2 Bonelli’s Eagles our count was dismal by anyone’s standards. We had eight very good eyes on the job. That we saw no large falcon was especially poignant. Perhaps like in Africa raptors can slide into oblivion unnoticed because of the importance others set on the photogenic mega fauna.

25th Nov. 2007.
Spent morning in park checked on the Guddha cliffs and returned looking for tiger. We did stop and watch a Sambar suckle its new born. She at first approached the calf that lay hidden in the grass with a measured step and half raised tail, as though she had seen a predator. We were sure this was the case and moved toward her. The calf was so hungry that they allowed us to come very close while his mother stood still. Finally he realised we were there and moved off and turned around with raised tail.

On the 25th Nov I received some terrible news from my family, that I cannot relate here. I was lucky to be with good friends and I owe them much for their support during the next few weeks when my company could not have been anything other than miserable. I did not return home but stayed on.

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