The Birdman Of Belarus (5 pics)

[rpannier]

https://www.rferl.org/a/the-birdman-of-belarus-who-scales-trees-to-build-homes-for-eagles/30743625.html

Meet the elderly ornithologist who scales the trees of the Belarusian wilderness to build nests for endangered birds of prey. (Photos by Vasily Fedosenko of Reuters, with text by RFE/RL's Amos Chapple)


This is Uladzimer Ivanouski, a Belarusian ornithologist who was born in Daghestan but moved to Belarus in 1972 after falling in love with the nature of its Vitsebsk region.


For more than four decades the 73-year-old has dedicated his life to the study of predatory birds, and risked his life scaling flimsy trees to build nests for them.


Ivanouski builds a nest with wire and branches atop a tree in the Belarusian wilderness. The former software engineer has built nearly 700 such nests, which he says are necessary since many birds of prey in Belarus lose their homes to logging.


Ivanouski says he chooses locations for nests by walking around, looking at the treetops, and asking himself, "If I were an eagle, where would I nest?"


Ivanouski checks on the nest of a spotted eagle. He told a Belarusian website he admired eagles because they are "powerful, proud, and free; how can you not love them?"

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