The Nordic Ark, July 12th 2008. Part 29

Next couple of things we saw was a little bit more 'meh' to me. After the leopards, and on our way to the tigers, I found it hard to get really psyched over these animals. But they were there and we saw them. :-)

First the Urial (Ovis vignei bochariensis). The park has several of these, a little herd. They're a kind of wild sheep. The rams have amazing horns, up to a meter long. But the only ones we got a good look at were females and young. The baby was cute. :-)

Me, left, and C., shooting away. :-)

The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a raptor about the size of a crow. Its numbers have decreased in this part of the world, partly due to habitat destruction and partly (mainly?) due to pesticide poisoning. The Ark is heavily involved in the Peregrine Project which is a restocking program with the aim of increasing the number of these birds in Sweden. Well, in Scandinavia, then, presumably. Animals are notoriously slow when it comes to understanding about national borders and so on. ;-) The project is going well as the number of peregrines is in fact growing.

We saw one of the birds, but barely. Excellent camouflage. I thought I saw it at first, but it was just a rock. The real bird was sitting further along. :-) Absolutely not convinced that we got any good shots of it.

The bird really is somewhere in this picture. I think I can see it, can you? ;-)

(Photo credit: 1, 3, 6: me; 2, 5: KAS, 4 - coming up :-)