{"id":1102,"date":"2014-03-30T15:58:11","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T02:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/?p=1102"},"modified":"2014-05-11T13:09:37","modified_gmt":"2014-05-11T01:09:37","slug":"giants-castle-vulture-hide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102","title":{"rendered":"Giants Castle &#8211; Vulture Hide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s blog post was written on my iPad during our flight from Durban to Cape Town and could have even been posted during the flight using the WiFi available onboard our Mango flight but I wanted to save it until I had processed some images and to try and keep the postings in a chronological order. I will share more photos from the Vulture Hide over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The Vulture hide at Giant&#8217;s Castle in the Drakensberg is a place I have long wanted to visit. The ideal time is in the autumn and winter months when the vultures need food supplementation while breeding so I hadn&#8217;t considered it as an option during our visit during summer and, in fact, my recollection was that it was not operational at this time of year. During a day visit we found that it was open and a trip was planned for the following day. A 04h00 start was needed to make it to the reserve in time for the 06h00 departure and thick mist climbing up from Mooi River had me concerned that I hadn&#8217;t allowed sufficient time for the trip bearing in mind the horribly potholed section of road just before entering the reserve. Fortunately the mist cleared and gave us an amazing view of the early dawn behind Kamberg as we headed toward the escarpment.<br \/>\nThe 4WD arrived on time and we were joined by 3 young Australians for the drive up to the hide. 2 buckets of meat and bones were supplied to put out for the birds. A group of White-necked Ravens and Red-winged Starlings were soon feeding but there was little sign of vultures. A Yellow-billed Kite was the first raptor to put on a show before landing to feed. A juvenile Bearded Vulture made a single pass while I was out of the hide putting out some more bones and then another Bearded and group of Cape Vultures was seen by one of the Aussies who was sitting outside of the hide and we managed a couple of distant flight shots but they didn&#8217;t land probably due the visible human presence. A Jackal buzzard then arrived and few off with a large chunk of meat and bone before returning for another chunk. We had a few more Kites arrive and episodic fly pasts by one adult and one juvenile Bearded vulture before the 4WD arrived for the Aussies who had requested and early pick-up. Edin and I then had the hide to ourselves and enjoyed some magnificent opportunities on dogfighting kites against the awesome background of distant blue escarpment and velvet green hills. Our requested ride back down the hill failed to materialise so after spending a couple of hours with the kites, following a Malachite Sunbird between protea flowers, seeing a Jackal and Reedbuck we decided to trek down from the mountain. We were rewarded with some lovely landscape images as we well a Baboon troop sighting and additional bird opportunities. We got back to our car just as a massive thunderstorm broke over the escarpment with huge bolts of lightening causing thunder to roll and echo through the mountains followed by a deluge of rain with some hail. \u00a0We only made it back after the office had closed so left the key to the hide in the mountain register box and hoped the man who had driven up the mountain didn&#8217;t lose too much sleep when he finally remembered taking 5 people up but only bringing 3 down!<br \/>\nDespite no vulture landings it was a fantastic experience with some great images to remember it by.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1216\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1216\" style=\"width: 592px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1216\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg?resize=592%2C394&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"HDR of Vulture hide looking out over the Bushman's River valley to the escarpment\" width=\"592\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1216\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">HDR of Vulture hide looking out over the Bushman&#8217;s River valley to the escarpment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1214\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1214\" style=\"width: 594px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/CapeVulture_D804410-800web.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1214\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/CapeVulture_D804410-800web.jpg?resize=594%2C396&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Cape Vulture\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/CapeVulture_D804410-800web.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/CapeVulture_D804410-800web.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1214\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cape Vulture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1218\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1218\" style=\"width: 596px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKiteGiantsCastle_D3S1477-800web.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1218\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKiteGiantsCastle_D3S1477-800web.jpg?resize=596%2C397&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Yellow-billed Kite against the escarpment\" width=\"596\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKiteGiantsCastle_D3S1477-800web.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKiteGiantsCastle_D3S1477-800web.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1218\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yellow-billed Kite against the escarpment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1217\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1217\" style=\"width: 598px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKite_D804428-1024web.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1217\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKite_D804428-1024web.jpg?resize=598%2C398&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Yellow-billed Kite\" width=\"598\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKite_D804428-1024web.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yellow-billedKite_D804428-1024web.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1217\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yellow-billed Kite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1215\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1215\" style=\"width: 597px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Red-wingedStarlingMale_D3S1384-800web.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1215\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Red-wingedStarlingMale_D3S1384-800web.jpg?resize=597%2C398&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Red-winged Starling male\" width=\"597\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Red-wingedStarlingMale_D3S1384-800web.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Red-wingedStarlingMale_D3S1384-800web.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1215\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Red-winged Starling male<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s blog post was written on my iPad during our flight from Durban to Cape Town and could have even been posted during the flight using the WiFi available onboard our Mango flight but I wanted to save it until I had processed some images and to try and keep the postings in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-guides","category-reviews","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Giants Castle - Vulture Hide - WildLight Photography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giants Castle - Vulture Hide - WildLight Photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week&#8217;s blog post was written on my iPad during our flight from Durban to Cape Town and could have even been posted during the flight using the WiFi available onboard our Mango flight but I wanted to save it until I had processed some images and to try and keep the postings in a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WildLight Photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-30T02:58:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-11T01:09:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tony\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tony\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tony\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5cf44f50ed633ae6f6256fd8d79241f0\"},\"headline\":\"Giants Castle &#8211; Vulture Hide\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-30T02:58:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-11T01:09:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102\"},\"wordCount\":672,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"birds\",\"guides\",\"reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102\",\"name\":\"Giants Castle - Vulture Hide - WildLight Photography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-30T02:58:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-11T01:09:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5cf44f50ed633ae6f6256fd8d79241f0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/archives\\\/1102#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Giants Castle &#8211; Vulture Hide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/\",\"name\":\"WildLight Photography\",\"description\":\"Nature Photography by Tony Whitehead\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tonywhitehead.com\\\/wildlight\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5cf44f50ed633ae6f6256fd8d79241f0\",\"name\":\"tony\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fcc09a0c3018fb7aab77c8bc477d9f59884f7573178b1a329fb88b10779b4f62?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fcc09a0c3018fb7aab77c8bc477d9f59884f7573178b1a329fb88b10779b4f62?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fcc09a0c3018fb7aab77c8bc477d9f59884f7573178b1a329fb88b10779b4f62?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tony\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Giants Castle - Vulture Hide - WildLight Photography","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Giants Castle - Vulture Hide - WildLight Photography","og_description":"This week&#8217;s blog post was written on my iPad during our flight from Durban to Cape Town and could have even been posted during the flight using the WiFi available onboard our Mango flight but I wanted to save it until I had processed some images and to try and keep the postings in a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102","og_site_name":"WildLight Photography","article_published_time":"2014-03-30T02:58:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-11T01:09:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"tony","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tony","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102"},"author":{"name":"tony","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/#\/schema\/person\/5cf44f50ed633ae6f6256fd8d79241f0"},"headline":"Giants Castle &#8211; Vulture Hide","datePublished":"2014-03-30T02:58:11+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-11T01:09:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102"},"wordCount":672,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg","articleSection":["birds","guides","reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102","url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102","name":"Giants Castle - Vulture Hide - WildLight Photography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-30T02:58:11+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-11T01:09:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/#\/schema\/person\/5cf44f50ed633ae6f6256fd8d79241f0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/VultureHide_D3S1810-800web.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1102#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Giants Castle &#8211; Vulture Hide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/","name":"WildLight Photography","description":"Nature Photography by Tony Whitehead","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/#\/schema\/person\/5cf44f50ed633ae6f6256fd8d79241f0","name":"tony","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fcc09a0c3018fb7aab77c8bc477d9f59884f7573178b1a329fb88b10779b4f62?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fcc09a0c3018fb7aab77c8bc477d9f59884f7573178b1a329fb88b10779b4f62?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fcc09a0c3018fb7aab77c8bc477d9f59884f7573178b1a329fb88b10779b4f62?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tony"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3ThZJ-hM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1261,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1261","url_meta":{"origin":1102,"position":0},"title":"Bearded Vultures &#8211; Giants Castle Vulture Hide","author":"tony","date":"May 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Giants Castle's Vulture Hide is an ideal venue for seeing and photographing Bearded Vultures. Their other name,\u00a0Lammergeier (Lamb vulture), came from a misconception that they preyed heavily on lambs and were thus persecuted by livestock farmers. Their predominant diet is bones which they break and digest to extract the nutrients\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/BeardedVultureJuvi_D804567-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/BeardedVultureJuvi_D804567-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/BeardedVultureJuvi_D804567-web.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/BeardedVultureJuvi_D804567-web.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16214,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/16214","url_meta":{"origin":1102,"position":1},"title":"Finding Hidden Treasure","author":"tony","date":"October 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Bearded Vulture against the hills of the Drakensberg Recently while searching for some old images I discovered a folder of images with a whole pile of starred images that I had never gotten around to processing. I had made a start but as usual after a period of leave, catching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bird Photography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bird Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/bird-photography"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a Bearded Vulture","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/BearedVulture_D810517-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/BearedVulture_D810517-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/BearedVulture_D810517-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/BearedVulture_D810517-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1229,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1229","url_meta":{"origin":1102,"position":2},"title":"More from Giants Castle Vulture Hide &#8211; why is it such a great bird photography venue?","author":"tony","date":"May 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Vulture Hide at Giants Castle has long been on my bird photography bucket list. Images from there often stand out as obvious Vulture Hide shots. What makes it special? The obvious factor is the species available with it arguably being the premier venue in the world to photograph Bearded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Yellow-billedKite_D804604-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Yellow-billedKite_D804604-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Yellow-billedKite_D804604-web.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Yellow-billedKite_D804604-web.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14452,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/14452","url_meta":{"origin":1102,"position":3},"title":"Northern Giant Petrel","author":"tony","date":"July 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Northern Giant Petrel - vulture of the sea.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a Northern Giant Petrel - Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NorthernGiantPetrel-D85_4942-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NorthernGiantPetrel-D85_4942-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NorthernGiantPetrel-D85_4942-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/NorthernGiantPetrel-D85_4942-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2643,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/2643","url_meta":{"origin":1102,"position":4},"title":"Snow Petrels","author":"tony","date":"August 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Snow Petrels are a delight. Their pure white plumage and buoyant flight make this little petrel unique. They occur in areas of abundant ice and seldom north of 55 degrees south, so Crystal Sound was a great place to see them. They are the smallest of the fulmarine petrels and,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antarctica&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antarctica","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/antarctica"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SnowPetrelKrill_D815475-web.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SnowPetrelKrill_D815475-web.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SnowPetrelKrill_D815475-web.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SnowPetrelKrill_D815475-web.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8825,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/8825","url_meta":{"origin":1102,"position":5},"title":"Bin Chicken","author":"tony","date":"February 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bin Chicken is one of the colloquial names for the Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca). Other disparaging terms include, tip turkey, dump chook, trash vulture, Bankstown bin diver and winged waste lizard. They always remind me of African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus), which having grown up with Hadeda Ibis in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Australia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"Australian White Ibis coming in to land","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/AustralianWhiteIbis_DSC3303-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/AustralianWhiteIbis_DSC3303-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/AustralianWhiteIbis_DSC3303-web.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/AustralianWhiteIbis_DSC3303-web.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}