This encounter with a huge Red Tail Hawk took place outside my office a few days ago:
When I showed my wife this and asked if I could buy a falcon, she said yes...:)
Posted on 06/06/2022 1:04:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Master falconer Rodney Stotts has written a book about his life path from drug dealer on the streets of Washington to wildlife expert, hoping to inspire others to take solace in nature.
"I went from 'flipping birds' - selling cocaine - to flying birds, and the destruction that I used to cause in that life," Stotts said. "I'm just trying to make up for it."
In his new memoir "Bird Brother," the 51-year-old credits the "healing power of wildlife" for transforming his life.
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
I’ve been acquainted with a few falconers. It’s a fascinating, all-absorbing sport involving enormous commitment.
I think working with horses can do the same for young people wanting to turn their lives around.
I would think falcons would make excellent drug couriers.
bttt
You want a homing/carrier pigeon for that. Hawks usually have bells - not very stealthy - and don’t ‘home’; they don’t always come back to their owners, either. That’s why falconers call it a partnership, and never consider their birds as ‘pets’. Bird always has the choice to just leave.
I’m wearing fur pajamas
I ride a hot potato
It’s tickling my fancy
Speak up, I can’t hear you
Here on this mountain top, oh-oh-oh
I got some wild, wild life
I got some news to tell you, oh-oh
About some wild, wild life
Here come the doctor in charge, oh-oh-oh
She’s got some wild, wild life
Ain’t that the way you like it, oh-oh?
Living wild, wild life
I wrestle with your conscience
You wrestle with your partner
Sitting on a windowsill
But he spends his time behind closed doors
So check out mister businessman, oh-oh-oh
He bought some wild, wild life
On the way to the stock exchange, oh-oh-oh
He got some wild, wild life
Break it up when he opens the door, oh-oh-oh
He doing wild, wild life
I know it’s the way you like it, oh-oh
Living wild, wild
Peace of mind?
It’s a piece of cake
Thought control
You get on board any time you like
Like sitting on pins and needles
Things fall apart
It’s scientific
Sleeping on the Interstate, oh-oh-oh
Getting wild, wild life
Checking in and checking out, oh-oh-oh
I got ‘em, wild, wild life
Spending all of my money and time, oh-oh-oh
On too much wild, wild life
We wanna go and we go where we go, oh-oh-oh
Ah, doing wild, wild life
I know it, that’s how we start, oh-oh-oh
Got some wild, wild life
Take a picture here in the daylight, oh-oh
And it’s a wild, wild life
You’ve grown so tall, you’ve grown so fast, oh-oh-oh
Wild, wild
And I know that’s the way you like it, oh-oh
Living wild, wild, wild, wild life
-Talking Heads
This encounter with a huge Red Tail Hawk took place outside my office a few days ago:
When I showed my wife this and asked if I could buy a falcon, she said yes...:)
I was sitting on my back porch last year and a hawk swooped down and snatched a cat that was walking through the yard. He flew off with the cat into a large tree.
I hope you’re both ready for the cost, and have a nice deep-freeze. They don’t live on Big Macs.
“I hope you’re both ready for the cost, and have a nice deep-freeze.”
It’s either that or lose your squeamishness over picking up roadkill, hopefully relatively fresh. There’s also having another bird farm for pigeons or collecting them from city parks.
I investigated falconry around 2000.
It takes about two years of study and a passed exam (mostly focused on the health of a bird) to even begin to Apprentice.
And it takes years of Apprenticing to become a Falconer.
Master Falconer? LONG time.
Also, falconry is not all about the bird. It is also about becoming a leatherworker, as your bird always will wear what you have handcrafted.
Not even passingly true.
“I was sitting on my back porch last year and a hawk swooped down and snatched a cat that was walking through the yard.”
I regularly see hawks flying over my neighborhood with snakes dangling from their talons. We have a large population of red-tails around here plus a couple of other species. Bald eagles are also an over-wintering attraction around the neighborhood ponds.
My SIL’s ex was a Master Falconer. They did a lot of biz in the UAE.
Roadkill isn’t very good for them; most hawks are not routine scavengers and eat a varied diet. A steady diet of pigeons wouldn’t be good for them, either.
People who have these birds pay very good money to have a constant supply of quality food, often weanling rats, mice, day-old chicks, etc., that have been raised nutritiously, killed and frozen.
https://www.rodentpro.com/categories/frozen-foods/rats
It’s still a very popular sport in the Middle East.
It is like her "offer" to make me "special herbal tea" from our garden when I am in a foul mood and am rude to her, kind of the way old married couples do that.
She doesn't really intend to make some of that special tea for me.
I think.
Maybe you shouldn’t turn your back to her...:-)
LADY ASTOR: If I were your wife I’d put poison in your tea!
WINSTON CHURCHILL: If I were your husband, I’d drink it!"
You can probably tell I am a huge fan of Winston Churchill, warts and all. Without the warts, probably not nearly as interesting...:)
I’m a fan, too :-)
“Democracy is the worst form of government - except for all the others.”
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