The ducks are coming! And so is the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest! The Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest being is being judged for the first time in California and there are a lot of ancillary events going on especially in the Bay Area. If you decide to come see the judging, look for me. [...]
I want to blame the weather for this excruciatingly slow molt. The falcons are eating so much they are leaving food behind, but the feathers are dropping slowly. They both are only six feathers in on the train. Boooo! It hasn’t felt much like summer either, these chilly nights and cool days. I know I [...]
I’ve been buying duck stamps for eight years now. I knew that the money went toward conservation, but I didn’t entirely understand how it worked. I’m guessing most falconers don’t. This year, I’ve had the pleasure of working on the committee organizing the events surrounding this year’s Federal Duck Stamp Contest (in California for the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
