RAS AL KHAIMAH // Three eagle owlets are the first recruits for a programme to release owls and falcons at the Banyan Tree al Wadi resort.
At six weeks old the owl triplets weigh about 600 grams each and are little more than balls of sand-coloured feathers and down. The triplets are in good company at the Banyan Tree, home to 10 falcons, two eagles and two harris hawks. Most of the birds, including the owlets, come from Sheikh Butti Al Maktoum, a renowned Dubai falconer.
Unlike their neighbours, the owls are destined for the wild and will not be named. In three weeks they will be placed in a box out of reach of cats and foxes and given food until they can fly away.
"We just keep feeding them until they can fend for themselves and gradually just reduce the amount of feed that we give them, encouraging them to go out and look for their own food," said Peter Bergh, the director of falconry for Shaheen Xtreme, which runs programmes and courses from the Banyan Tree.
The owlets are expected to begin flying in four to six weeks and instincts should lead them to a healthy diet of rodents. Adult female eagle owls weigh about 1 kilogram and males about 800 grams.
"We want them to try to be as wild as possible but at the same time we want to encourage what is going on," said Mr Bergh. "There will be an element of observing - but from a distance, through binoculars."
For now the owlets spend their days asleep under a log in the mews, hopping about at night. Guests who want to see adult eagle owls can visit the resort's one-year-old resident Google and her brother Yahoo, who live at the falconry centre. "Initially, falconry wasn't really about conservation but to show people the traditions and the culture," said Mr Bergh. "We've taken it a step further to return to falconry, not just as a sport but as a part of the environment."
A rehabilitation centre is planned for injured or confiscated birds. There is only one patient at present, a Steppe eagle named Kazakh who has what Ryan Ingram, the resort's reserve and recreation manager, called "serious, serious style".
The Banyan Tree is not just for the birds. It opened its nature reserve in April with four oryx, nine sand gazelles and 18 Arabian gazelles. Shortly after their release one of the sand gazelles gave birth.
The resort offers falconry courses and programmes for school groups. It is also keen to work with the surrounding community.
"We're set in this farming community and by increasing the nature reserve side we want, not to impose them, but involve them in a way," said Mr Ingram. "We've got to get people to embrace the environmental side and get them to say we love conservation because it gives us something to see and feel and experience."
