My Latest Endeavor...

janevicki

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No. I didn't do that one, but now I want to look it up and see whose it was!

Okay, I just looked it up. That is Steve-O my buddy's white backed vulture. I think that was my job, and now I vaguely remember booking that one and sending him to do it. It was a one trainer job and its his bird, so I couldn't put myself on it.
 

Moozillion

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No. I didn't do that one, but now I want to look it up and see whose it was!

Okay, I just looked it up. That is Steve-O my buddy's white backed vulture. I think that was my job, and now I vaguely remember booking that one and sending him to do it. It was a one trainer job and its his bird, so I couldn't put myself on it.
Tom, you are involved in the coolest things! And it cracks me up how casually you talk about it- like "Ho-Hum: just another day at the office!" :):):):<3:
 

turtlesteve

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I finally read through all this. Sounds awesome. I feel like that guy in the State Farm commercial (I coulda got a falcon!).

I did not know about the conservation aspect of falconry, so happy to learn something new.

The time commitment to something like this is hard for me to imagine - hat’s off to you.
 

Sue Ann

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I got a pic at twilight last night, and its a little blurry. That's Mortimer in the foreground and you can see how dark he is looking. Rick is in the background and you can still see a little bit of his juvenile speckling.

You can also clearly see in this pic how this species got one of their other common names: Bay wing.
View attachment 301264
Wicked beaks
 

Tom

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@Moozillion I took some more pics for you today.
IMG_1030.jpgIMG_1031.jpgIMG_1032.jpgIMG_1033.jpgIMG_1034.jpg

In this series of pics you can see so much of their personality. I was standing there for a few seconds and got all these different looks. They make these little low murmurs while I'm standing there. They talk to me.

Hunting season is less than two months away, and I've been thinking about it non-stop. I'll start to get them back in shape for hunting in another couple of weeks. Kind of like a pro athlete coming back to spring training after the off season. Except its fall training for these guys.
 

Moozillion

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OMG! What AMAZING animals! :<3:
Their faces are far more expressive than I realized.
AND THOSE TALONS!!! ? Straight out of anyone’s nightmares!

Looking at these 2, my mind wanders on two different tracks:
I can really appreciate how native peoples regarded these (and other animals) as powerful totems, and would want to identify with them, ie in names and rituals. These guys seem more at home in the world than I often feel.

The other thought was: DESCENDED FROM DINOSAURS!?!?!! Oh, HELL YEAH!!!! ?❤️

Thanks so much for these pics and for this thread.❤️❤️❤️

P.S. I think it is BEYOND COOL that they “talk” to you and accept you the way they have.
 

Tom

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AND THOSE TALONS!!! ? Straight out of anyone’s nightmares!

P.S. I think it is BEYOND COOL that they “talk” to you and accept you the way they have.
What is super cool is that most of the time I handle them with no glove. They sit on my bare hand much like a parrot as long as there is no food involved. I don't think I have pics of that... I'll check.

Another cool trick that I think all hawks do is catch food when you toss it to them or anywhere near them. They will hop if necessary and they never miss. They snatch the flying food out of the air so fast that your eye can't process it, and the precision is unbelievable.

P.S. Do you remember Bobo the owl from "Clash of the Titans"? Its like that when they talk to me only much quieter. I'll try to record it.
 

Tom

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I have a friend who is into amateur video production. He put a go pro on my perch, used his own hand held rig, and also flew his drone while we hunted this field. We got some neat stuff, but plan on doing a better job this coming season. You can see a few strikes in the video, and you can see how fast the rabbits move too. In the very beginning of the video, you can see Morty stepping off my bare hand. The file was huge, so I hope this works:
View attachment video-1581117183.mp4
 

Pastel Tortie

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This is a fascinating thread. I have zero hands-on experience with birds, but I've always been curious.

The closest I've gotten to falconry in real life was watching a demonstration at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds when I lived in the UK. (It was a brief bus ride away, and I had a year membership... and I spent SO much time at that place.) It always seems like there's never time for all the details you had no idea you really wanted to know. Thanks for sharing. :)

I enjoy your stories and explanations. There tends to be an undercurrent of "why" in your explanations, and that's probably why they make so much sense. (That, and you're a really good read.)
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

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I have a friend who is into amateur video production. He put a go pro on my perch, used his own hand held rig, and also flew his drone while we hunted this field. We got some neat stuff, but plan on doing a better job this coming season. You can see a few strikes in the video, and you can see how fast the rabbits move too. In the very beginning of the video, you can see Morty stepping off my bare hand. The file was huge, so I hope this works:
View attachment 302530
It‘s a wonderful video, really enjoyed watching it.
 

Tom

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Just how smart are Rick and Mortimer? And what did they think of the drone?
Hmm.... I don't know how to answer that question. I don't know that they are smarter than other types of raptors, but their brains just work differently because of their very unique social nature.

My birds are totally desensitized to the drone. I have the same type and fly it around on a regular basis. Sometimes I hover it a few feet in front of their cage. They just look at it and go about their business. Hawk business, that is. When we are out in the field, they ignore it completely.
 

NorCal tortoise guy

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Took this picture at work the other day it was eating a catch but I could not get very close was wondering if you could identify her? She was soo big. I wandered if she was a golden Eagle. She was so much bigger the Red tailed hawk‘s l usually see AB60FFE8-D387-4334-8D16-B13E0038D248.jpeg
 

KarenSoCal

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Took this picture at work the other day it was eating a catch but I could not get very close was wondering if you could identify her? She was soo big. I wandered if she was a golden Eagle. She was so much bigger the Red tailed hawk‘s l usually see View attachment 304808
I think it looks a bit like a vulture.
 

NorCal tortoise guy

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I think it looks a bit like a vulture.
I can see see how you would think that ( bad picture) but I don’t think so because the vultures showed up after this bird left and were considerably smaller. Also she was by the road and as my truck got near she flew off to this spot carrying her catch. I have never seen a vulture carry its food.
 

KarenSoCal

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I can see see how you would think that ( bad picture) but I don’t think so because the vultures showed up after this bird left and were considerably smaller. Also she was by the road and as my truck got near she flew off to this spot carrying her catch. I have never seen a vulture carry its food.
I hope someone can ID it. I'm really curious now.
 

Tom

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I can see see how you would think that ( bad picture) but I don’t think so because the vultures showed up after this bird left and were considerably smaller. Also she was by the road and as my truck got near she flew off to this spot carrying her catch. I have never seen a vulture carry its food.
I really can't tell from the picture, but by process of elimination, if it was hawk-like, bigger than a turkey vulture, and dark in color, it would have to be a golden eagle. Nothing else fits the bill.
 
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