Another Bold Predator

 I passed by the model train exhibit toward the end of my walk through the Albuquerque Botanic Garden.  I was surprised to see this large bird flap up. suddenly from the little stream that runs through the site.

The overall shape and the long tail revealed it to be a Cooper's Hawk.  The hawk seemed quite at ease on the low branch at only about three yards from me,  apparently waiting for my exit so it could get back to its morning bath.

All of the members of the family of accipiters show similar fierce confidence in the dominance of their immediate surroundings.  I was reminded of a larger goshawk that I once came across in the high desert of southern Idaho.  That hawk was sitting on a recent kill, a jackrabbit, and. it just glared at me and mantled over its prey as I came within a few yards.

 It was early Fall and I did not at the time have a hunting bird, so I decided to see if I might capture this bold hunter.  I went home to get a decoy pigeon which I fitted with a noose-covered harness.  I drove back into the desert and found the hawk still on top of the jack.  I had her in my hands in a few minutes.

The accipiters are extremely aggressive  when they are hungry, which makes them quick to learn the falconer's routine with only small offerings of meat as a performance reward.  The big female was hunting from the glove within two weeks of being trapped.  She caught a lot of rabbits, jacks and pheasants which we shared that winter before I sent her back to the wild.

Robotic Peregrine

Robird Peregrine Falcon from Clear Flight Solutions on Vimeo.
This video shows the Robird Peregrine Falcon model flying.
Seen at Gizmag.

for the birds

This small collection of hoods is about the only thing I have left from ten years in falconry. After I had mastered some of the intricacies of building and flying fighter kites, it seemed a natural progression to move on to hawks and falcons. It was a bit of a stretch undertaking this while living in San Francisco's Outer Mission District, but it turned out for me to be the right time and the right place.



I started out as everyone must with kestrels and red tail hawks. The kestrels were great little flyers. My Red Tail got to be very adept at catching ground squirrels and jack rabbits on the fill-land flats east of San Bruno Mountain. I also hunted there with my Salukis, but never achieved the bedouin ideal of working the birds and dogs together.



The pursuit of falconry ultimately contributed to a disaffection with city life. One day, we loaded the kids, the Red Tail, the dog and a friend from down the street in the Ford Econoline and headed for southern Idaho. The Snake River valley was the great center of modern falconry then, and I had the opportunity to fly some fine birds including Prairie Falcons and goshawks.



I did little photography during those years as falconry is a demanding taskmaster that permits no distractions. There are a few pictures somewhere, though. I'll dig them up eventually.