We fell in love with a little dude
Mar. 27th, 2010 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreaminghopeToday we redeemed Russ' birthday present gift certificate from me from last August: "Falconer for the Day" at Raptors Ridge. As previously mentioned, I'm scared of birds, but what the hell: there's nothing like a bird of prey with a razor-sharp beak and eight massive talons to overcome a little fear.
Raptors Ridge has a number of birds of prey: owls, falcons, and hawks. Though their birds are trained to hunt, Karen and her husband Kim are primarily interested in caring for abandoned birds and educating people about birds of prey. Karen led us today. She was so informative and interesting. First we got a tour of their mews and saw all the lovely birds through the wires, except for some new falcons that are too high-strung to be visited. Then we learned to make a set of aylmeri and jesses out of leather, how to tie a falconer's knot one-handed, and how to hold the bird's leash.
I mastered the falconer's knot!
Then she brought out the birds, starting with two male Harris Hawks...
Left: Russ with 4-year-old Storm. Right: Me with 3-year-old Frankie.
We took the birds for a walk through the beautiful forest behind the enclosures. This is part of the training process: "manning" or getting the birds used to people and being carried. Of course, Storm and Frankie are birds well-accustomed to being handled. Frankie did a small amount of flapping when we passed under a new archway they'd recently installed - hawks don't like having things above them - but we did OK.
Then it was feeding time. The bird flies to a perch in the field, and you stand with your back to the bird (to be less threatening) and your gloved hand straight out with a piece of chicken* sticking out the top of your fist. The bird flies, lands on your fist, eats, then flies to the perch at the other end of the field. Back and forth, one chunk of chicken at a time. After feeding Frankie and Storm, they went back to their homes and out came Little Dude, a Kestrel. He is their smallest bird, and actually currently lives inside their house, in their den (leading to a discussion of how to keep feathers out of computers). Hard to believe that this beautiful little bird is a ferocious hunter, until you feel him tug at a chick's leg in your fist.
Though we didn't fly or feed any owls, they did bring Lucy, their Great Horned Owl, out to visit. She's pretty heavy, so I didn't hold her, but Russ did:
Then we watch Kim fly his Red Tail Hawks. They are a pretty temperamental bunch and seem to prefer to just work with their one person, so we just watched as he flew them and played with a rabbit lure with them. Unfortunately, it is really hard to get a picture of a hawk in motion, but here's one of them "mantaling" as it protects its food:
We had a wonderful, unforgettable day.
2010, my "year of flight", has really begun now!
*By a piece of chicken, I really mean a piece of baby chick, complete with feet and feathers.
Raptors Ridge has a number of birds of prey: owls, falcons, and hawks. Though their birds are trained to hunt, Karen and her husband Kim are primarily interested in caring for abandoned birds and educating people about birds of prey. Karen led us today. She was so informative and interesting. First we got a tour of their mews and saw all the lovely birds through the wires, except for some new falcons that are too high-strung to be visited. Then we learned to make a set of aylmeri and jesses out of leather, how to tie a falconer's knot one-handed, and how to hold the bird's leash.
I mastered the falconer's knot!Then she brought out the birds, starting with two male Harris Hawks...
Left: Russ with 4-year-old Storm. Right: Me with 3-year-old Frankie.
We took the birds for a walk through the beautiful forest behind the enclosures. This is part of the training process: "manning" or getting the birds used to people and being carried. Of course, Storm and Frankie are birds well-accustomed to being handled. Frankie did a small amount of flapping when we passed under a new archway they'd recently installed - hawks don't like having things above them - but we did OK.
Then it was feeding time. The bird flies to a perch in the field, and you stand with your back to the bird (to be less threatening) and your gloved hand straight out with a piece of chicken* sticking out the top of your fist. The bird flies, lands on your fist, eats, then flies to the perch at the other end of the field. Back and forth, one chunk of chicken at a time. After feeding Frankie and Storm, they went back to their homes and out came Little Dude, a Kestrel. He is their smallest bird, and actually currently lives inside their house, in their den (leading to a discussion of how to keep feathers out of computers). Hard to believe that this beautiful little bird is a ferocious hunter, until you feel him tug at a chick's leg in your fist.
Though we didn't fly or feed any owls, they did bring Lucy, their Great Horned Owl, out to visit. She's pretty heavy, so I didn't hold her, but Russ did:
Then we watch Kim fly his Red Tail Hawks. They are a pretty temperamental bunch and seem to prefer to just work with their one person, so we just watched as he flew them and played with a rabbit lure with them. Unfortunately, it is really hard to get a picture of a hawk in motion, but here's one of them "mantaling" as it protects its food:
We had a wonderful, unforgettable day.
2010, my "year of flight", has really begun now!
*By a piece of chicken, I really mean a piece of baby chick, complete with feet and feathers.
