Birds of Prey, photographed at a bird of prey sanctuary

animals, Birds, conservation, desert, Life, Middle East, natural history, nature, Photography, predator, raptor, Uncategorized, Wildlife
Desert Eagle Owl

Desert Eagle Owl

 

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Lappet-Faced Vulture

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Peregrine Falcon

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Greater Spotted Eagle

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Lappet-Faced Vulture

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Barn Owl

 

 

Outsourcing the Instinct to Hunt

Arabia, Bedouin, Birds, Emirates, People, Photography, Portraits, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

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With the intense eyes, the long stately face, and the taciturn demeanour, this subject is a natural. Underneath the mantle of the modern man in a newly-modern desert kingdom there is still a vestige of the old Bedouin culture.

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You can take the man out of the desert, but you cannot take the desert out of the man.

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His partner-in-crime, the peregrine falcon (the one you see here in the picture is a smaller sub-species of its European cousin, adapted better for a hot, arid climate) is often captured in the desert, then trained by the Bedouin falconer to catch and return.

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The bird is revered in Arabia for its speed, its agile grace in flight and of course its beauty.