Paul has suggested I take back and fly my sweet Barb Taita female, the mini- shahin Cheetah (formerly Chicken as in Chicken Little), while he takes up Ms Mean Girl and attempts duck. We are both happy, as our respective quarry better fits the recent switch. One “trouble” with red shahin types is that they …
Tag: Raptors
How to make (this) bird happy…
The peregrine (who I sometimes call Bella II after an older bird of the same breeding I once had, who moved to Utah ended up killing five- pound sage grouse though she only weighed about what this one does, 23 ounces) is pretty well trained now. She even has good manners. She never screams or …
Weekend Hunt
We– Terence Wright, Karen Wetherill, their lurcher Loki (grandson of our Plummer and Lashyn), gyr- prairie tiercel Cog, Daniela and her smooth saluki pup Blaze, English master falconer and author of Game Hawk Ray Turner, Libby and Ataika and I– spent January 16- 17 hiking and hawking, first on high La Jencia Plain, on Lee’s …
Training
I like my dogs & hawks to– literally– be able to share a lure or kill. For just one thing it makes the birds eagle- proof in the western field; for another it just makes everything easier. Ataika is a good teacher.
A Merlin
Up in Colorado Anne Price (of the REF) and her female merlin Larkyn have also been busy. “… a week after almost losing her, my gal did the craziest thing I’ve ever seen her do in 3.25 seasons of flying her: she went and robbed/stole a starling from a wild female prairie falcon! It was …
One Owl
Nate and Nan are in their second season with their tame, fascinating, and often frustrating great horned owl. The bird does take game, and it makes for an expansion of “hawking” hours for two busy people (Nan’s store here) and great pictures, but as Nate said: “.. I had a horned owl kick my ass …
Some Photoblogging plus…
Not too much other than pix to share, though some books are in the pipeline. Several people have emailed about the peregrine. Everything goes well if slowly (my condition plus cold plus probably more caution than ever!) She is getting well- manned and has no vices. Got to get her on the lure now. Today …
Eevil Eagles
When I announced Darren’s new book (Tetrapod Zoology 1) I mentioned a Darren drawing that contained, among other things, an Australopithecine and a Socorro County calf in mortal danger. Here is the proof, in the form of his 2004 Christmas card (click on it to enlarge):The hominid is the (documented– look up recent material on …
Two quick links
Tim Gallagher just sent this link to a new study of passenger pigeon genetics.It is NOT a big mourning dove, and is closer despite its long tail to New World Columba like the bandtail. This might give more weight to some of my speculations in A Feathered Tempest (developed more succinctly in my recent Living …
Jeff Lockwood on Speciation
A few thoughts from Jeff on the nature of species my prompted by my “Big Black Nemesis” post. I like “constrained perspectivism”. And notice he is a fellow Asia- phile (;-) Book reviews and some photos coming… “The photos at “Lauren” are great—I love the eagle booties and the landscape images (I’d swear that Mongolia …