Love Birds

The general idea surrounded by love birds, being humans or birds is that they are affectionate, social and bound together by a bond for long periods of time. Even though this is true for love birds this seems to be the case with humans and birds as well... i am not talking about him and I, instead i am talking about the falcon's Ricardo has made an affectionate, social and special bond with.


This is a humorous and uplifting story that one has to be apart of to appreciate but I found these Falcon's behaviour (and Ricardo's interest in them) very interesting and had to share it...enjoy!


Falcon Info:

Falcons are part of the raptor family and have the ability to fly at very high speeds and change direction rapidly, they prey mostly on birds, reptiles and mammals, and live in nests often made by other birds. The females are very protective over their nests.

The 'Love Birds' Story:


This 'love affair' all started around August this year at the very top floor of the Kalahari Sands Hotel (which Ricardo is renovating), floor 14. Ricardo found a nest safely tucked in the corner behind the fisards outside one of the suites with a female falcon in it. Everyday  he used to check up on her and make sure none of the builders interfered with her or her nest and he even covered her nest with a box when they were removing windows or making noise. 

Hannes

Sophia

After a few weeks, Ricardo and Stephan (his boss) named the two falcons... the male is 'Hannes' & the female is 'Sophia'... not so sure how they came up with them?? Hannes and Sophia got used to Ricardo and Stephan and became very friendly with them; they sit on the ledge and watch them, allow them to take photos and they don't 'scream' at them anymore. Sophia doesn't like me, or Melanie very much (Stephan's girlfriend) because when we are there she 'screams' at us and flies over our heads, and is very protective over her babies... can you believe a bird intimidates me??


Ricardo went to check up on Sophia regularly and started noticing that she was tucked away in her nest, this went on for a few days and the one morning she got out of her nest when she saw Ricardo, almost as though she was waiting for him, and she showed him her little babies. Sophia was a proud mom to two baby falcons. Once again Ricardo had to name them, so their names are: Smelia & Shpop!! (No comment and I have no idea how those names came to mind!). Here are some photos of Smelia and Shpop...the falcon babies:

Sophia with babies; Smelia & Shpop!



Smelia & Shpop

Everyday after coming home from work Ricardo gives me an update on the falcon family; Hannes brings lizards for sophia to regurgitate into her babies mouths (great!), the babies are wondering around on the ledge and that they were starting to change colour...they are no longer white fur balls! The funniest story for me though was that he told me Hannes is having an affair!! He saw Hannes was leaving the nest more often than usual and one day he followed Hannes around the building and saw that he went to another nest on the opposite wing of the building that contained another female Falcon!! 


So two months have passed since Sophia had her babies and she has now kicked them out the nest. Hannes & Sophia have since moved from their nest on the 14th floor, we don't know where their nest is now but they both pop in once in a while to say 'hi' to Ricardo and Stephan. They sit on the ledge where they are working and just chill there for a while, watching them, let them take photo's, then they go off again until the next day!

Hannes & Sophia