Packing to move from Citrus Heights to Sacramento, I found myself rummaging through the past, pausing to open journals, deciding on things to treasure or discard. I didn’t get to do this when I moved to Northern California from the South. A company packed me up and I didn’t bother with much more than dusting [...]
Plenty of posts over at Heckled by Parrots, but over here, it’s been quiet. Falconry season was barely a season. Most of my free time was sucked up by promoting LIFT rather than flying falcons. (Ironic) I’m hoping next season will bring more ducks, better hunting and some time to fly. In the meantime, the [...]
On Saturday, Hal Webster turns 90. If you are a falconer, you likely know who Hal is– in short American falconry royalty. Our sport has only been in existence for about a hundred years in the United States, so Hal has been there since it’s beginnings — struggled with wayward birds in the days before [...]
I had a few comments wanting to know more about the presentation that I gave at the International Association of Anthrozoologists about the potential psychological and health benefits of high level relationships with wild animals. Mostly I was making a plea to anthrozoologists to look deeper, consider doing further studies before the trend of outlawing [...]
The stunning drake bufflehead has always eluded me, my mini-Moby duck.
I see them often and always have a hard time moving the binoculars away from their shimmer to examine the subdued tones of other more likely waterfowl. They are more than gorgeous. They are perfectly matched to a peregrine in size and zipping wingbeat and chances [...]
Cheers to the fleet-winged duck. Cheers to the hard-flying falcon. Christmas Dinner looked like this…
Those of you who know Hank Shaw and his amazing cooking, will be floored when I tell you I last minute cancelled on his undoubtedly delicious goose in order to eat my duck. It wasn’t that I think I can cook [...]
I’ve lived in Sacramento over a year. Last season I didn’t catch a single duck here. Not a single one. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. It was just that ponds were hard to come by, so little water early in the winter. The ducks never dispersed into smaller water, because, well, there wasn’t [...]
Some thoughts on ABA as it applies to working with birds of prey. This was a presentation I gave at the Association of Avian Veterinarians last summer and is mainly geared toward helping vets talk to their clients. Those of you who are Steve Layman fans may enjoy. Some of the points arose from a [...]
The thing is, my homemade backpack wasn’t all that. The peregrine ruined it with minimal effort and left it lying next to a regurgitated pellet on the floor, discarded just as easily and with similar irreverance. Damn I wish I had inherited the arts and crafts gene from my mom.
That’s okay. After one failed attempted [...]
…wasn’t really a flight, in all honesty.
He sat on the roof of XB’s truck. Then he sat on a pole. And then he thought ponderously about coming to the lure, finally arriving, but protesting heavily that I wasn’t swinging it by strafing the stationary leather pouch five times before tackling it.
At least he got in the air. [...]
