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. [...]
I’m really really slow to get started this year and am thinking that’s okay. The nasty weather only just finally pushed into the north, meaning that my quarry which is still wintering comfortably far away is about to get an eviction notice from Mother Nature.
I’ll be in DC at the end of the week and by the time I [...]
There is a place in Lift I often find myself reading from at bookstores that describes Anakin falling and refers to Ken Franklin’s video of sky diving with his peregrine Frightful. I remember the falconry meet when Ken was keynote speaker and showed us the raw footage of the soon to be National Geographic special. The [...]
