Falcon with a tag on wing hits car in Saudi

A large falcon with a plastic tag fitted to its wings rammed into a car travelling on a motorway in the Gulf Kingdom before it was captured, the second such an incident since an Israeli tagged vulture was caught in late 2010.

A Saudi man was driving his car in the morning on the road linking the northwestern town of Hail near the border with Jordan to the western town of Madina when he hit the bird, with a tag bearing the code “H09” stuck to its wing.

“We have captured the bird and found a red plastic tag tied to its wing……we have contacted the competent authorities to investigate this case,” said Colonel Abdul Aziz Al Zaneedi, police spokesman in Hail.

Saudi Arabia said in December one of its citizens captured an Israeli falcon in Hail fitted with GPS transmitter bearing the name Tel Aviv University.

The vulture, which can have a wing span of up to 265cm (8ft 8in), was caught by a Saudi man using a dead sheep as a bait after the bird landed near the town.

The device does nothing more than receive and store basic data about the bird's whereabouts, and about his altitude and speed," a bird specialist at Israel's Park and Nature Authority said after the falcon was captured.

A Saudi royal family member had said the Israeli bird was apparently on a scientific mission. “I think you have to ask the wildlife officials about this but such birds are always seen in many countries as they are used to measure distances,” said Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, assistant defence minister
 

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