30th of july. Aroud 5PM. 1 adult and 1 immature circling along and above the limestone cliffs. Impressive raptor... At the same time, a family group of Delacour's Langurs lazed around. Hmm hmm... I don`t know if any cases of Bonelli`s predation on this rare primate have been noted there. The adult weight of a langur is about 7-10kg, so not small deal even for such a predator. But the young ones...
The 2nd of last may, I observed a Bonelli's immature flying low and quickly over the marsh, scolding by some Chinese Pond Herons. It perched on a rock, just above a small pagoda, not far from the dyke (200m), on the left side, and began to tear apart its prey (a bird, identication impossible).
Van Long, a paradise for birders, a well-stocked pantry for others...
Sébastien and Vân
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ReplyDeleteHi Sébastien,
ReplyDeletea PhD student and good friend of mine used to study the langurs in Van Long - we never observed anything like eagles going after the langurs. It's not unlikely though that a left-behind baby might be caught by a Bonelli's Eagle.
Usually the group leading male langur does utter a warn call when the eagles are around but the groups tend to calm down quickly. That indicates (in my very own opinion) that there's (almost) no predation by raptors.
Anyway, the langurs have to worry more about the xi mang factories blasting their way through to the Nature Reserve.
Cheers,
Falk