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White Gyr Falcon (1 Viewer)

A

A CHAPLIN

Well-known member
Hi Folks,

I hope nobody minds me posting this here as well as the tv diary but I hope you want to see the programme and the one after it (maybe) on Arctic Terns.

On Friday 1st February

T BBC2 8.00 – 8.50 pm Natural World White Falcon, White Wolf While we're grumbling our way through the dark, miserable days of Winter in this country, spare a thought for the creatures that live on Ellesmere Island in the Arctic Ocean. There, winter is unbearably long and summer short, while the environment is always alarmingly harsh. This visually arresting film follows a pair of Gyrfalcons and a pack of Arctic wolves as they struggle to raise their families during the short summer period when the sun never sets and temperatures “soar” but never make it to double figures. Yet this is far from a bleak film: there are plenty of fluffy Arctic foxes and cute baby musk oxen to coo over, the scenery is breathtakingly dramatic and there is some amazing wildlife behaviour to observe. Repeated on Sunday
VP 193555
 
Thanks,

I am glad you enjoyed it Wolfbirder and Craig and if I see any similar programmes I will post them on here too.

Ann :t:
 
Woah, I thought it was great, the story of the Gyr chicks was excellent, the mother had to start hunting because the male wasn't bothered. I wonder if it was an adult hare she killed, how big a prey can a hen gyr take I wonder. Brilliant stuff.
 
Just downloaded the programme and watched it.Fantastic footage by the BBC and nice for a change for the BBC not to give silly names to the wildlife.Gerald the Gyr,Willy Wolf and Malcolm the Musk Ox etc.Superb.
 
razorsharp said:
Woah, I thought it was great, the story of the Gyr chicks was excellent, the mother had to start hunting because the male wasn't bothered. I wonder if it was an adult hare she killed, how big a prey can a hen gyr take I wonder. Brilliant stuff.
Click to expand...

Actually this is standard practice among falcons. The female does the early nest stuff while the chicks need only as much food as the male can bring in, then when the workload gets too high the (invariably larger) female starts to rack up the weight of incoming prey. Sitting around doing nothing is the male's way of getting the female to pull her finger out. Remind me not to try that argument on Marion......

John
 
razorsharp said:
Woah, I thought it was great, the story of the Gyr chicks was excellent, the mother had to start hunting because the male wasn't bothered. I wonder if it was an adult hare she killed, how big a prey can a hen gyr take I wonder. Brilliant stuff.
Click to expand...

Not sure about mammals but they can take smaller geese, and I've seen foolish young birds have a go at knocking down a Whooper Swan - the swan was mildly annoyed rather than terrified. I greatly enjoyed the Snowy Owl clip so must get hold of the whole programme. It's been at least 36 hours since I saw a Gyr in the wild ;-)

E
 
wow- the way the snowly owl evaded the wolf as it leapt. the poor goslingswhich got decimated by the wolves and the one that got way as lucy played with it. oneof the foolish skuas got caught by a wolf. i wonder how arctic fox and other groun nesting birds avoid a wolf pack - we saw how the skuas and owls did it but surely if the wolves got excited nothing could stop them then.

i wonder how gyrfalcons, snowy owls and skuas react to one another.
 
Saw a great programme about a pack of Wolves in Yellowstone Park today, quite gruesome as the pack tore apart a Coyote.

Had to look away.
 
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