Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

“But what about the lurkers?”

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

When I was faster i was always behind.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Readership Capture / Falconry and Me

Falconry and Me

by | 134 Comments

This post is in: 

So contrary to popular opinion, I do in fact read this website, ANNE LAURIE. And, believe it or not, I actually follow several falconry tiktoks because I just find the entire thing amazing. I would love to have that kind of a relationship with a bird of prey.

The problem, though, is I do not kill things. I haven’t touched a gun since I got out of the army, will wreck my damned car before hurting a chipmunk, and don’t even kill bugs other than stinkbugs. I just feel too guilty about even thinking about killing things, because I think animals are much smarter than anyone gives them credit and I think they have emotions and they definitely have memories.

And one of the major components of falconry is killing small adorable things. So it is never going to be in my future.

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    quakerinabasement

    I have a book for you, if you can find it. “The Hawk is Dying,” by Harry Crews. It’s a work of fiction. It’s not directly about falconry, but it plays a major part in the storytelling.

    Harry was a writing instructor at U of Florida many years ago. He published a bunch of novels, plus many long-form articles for Playboy and Esquire. He was very much a gritty, redneck, hardass, mofo, but one with a great storytelling talent.

  3. 3.

    Emma from Miami

    I have the same issue. Love to watch the bird-human interaction, love watching the hawks in flight. Thinking about the prey, not so much. But I am not a vegetarian, so it feels a bit hypocritical.

  5. 5.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Every marginally literate person knows the reference in Yeats’ “The Second Coming,”, but few know this one, from the beginning of a poem dear to my heart and central to my history, by my Poifick Master And Hero Of The Zeitgeist:

    Moored to the same ring:
    The hour, the darkness and I,
    Our compasses hooded like falcons.

    W.S. Merwin (1927-2019), “The Ships Are Made Ready In Silence”

  6. 6.

    Kattails

    Cole you is a humanitarian.

    I got yelled at by a passenger in my car a couple of weeks ago because I swerved for a butterfly in the road, and feel guilty if I accidentally off a spider while trying to get it outside. I do, however, make an exception for mice. Ask me about the ghastly smell coming out of my heating-up oven because of the unknown mouse nest in the sidewall.
    However, falcons and one’s “pet” nesting birds are not a good mix. My phoebes are in for round two, in fact.

  7. 7.

    ShadeTail

    I guess our host just doesn’t have the wherewithal to be Shogun. Ah well, it’s not like Toranaga needs any more competition.

  8. 8.

    A Ghost to Most

    John lost his fight a while ago. So did his blog.

    I hope I die before I get old.

  9. 9.

    germy

    Falconry And Me sounds like a DNA harvesting company that tells you what bird you’re closest to genetically.

  10. 10.

    Betty

    My nephew-in-law is very big into this sport. While it is fascinating to observe, the small animal thing is troubling. It’s amazing how much you pay for a goshawk. He trains them for other people. One was valued at $40,000.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    don’t even kill bugs other than stinkbugs.

    I’m pretty much the same. I hate ants, but I’ve learned to divert them with cinnamon instead of spraying them with poison. And I’ll cheerfully swat mosquitoes without compunction. But spiders are utterly fascinating, and they do good, so if I come across one I’ll just gently capture it by upturning a plastic cup over it and sliding a piece of cardboard over the mouth and then carefully depositing it outside. And yes, I brake for squirrels and chipmunks.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    Much of the BC Interior is burning,

    The heat bubble and the wildfires, are creating dry lightning storms, sparking more wildfires,

    Absolutely mind-blowing wildfire behavior in British Columbia.Incredible & massive storm-producing pyrocumulonimbus plumes. pic.twitter.com/kH39IuX1ez— Dakota Smith (@weatherdak) July 1, 2021

  13. 13.

    Raoul Paste

    Just seeing the title of this post, I laughed

    And you have to admire someone with principle.   Years ago my wife decided she didn’t want to kill animals, and she became a vegetarian .  It’s a personal thing; she’s not preachy about it

  14. 14.

    Kattails

    @SiubhanDuinne: index cards work well, or those oversized stiff postcards. As long as the thing stays in the cup. I keep small cups nearby on both floors. Heating with wood brings in a lot of spiders. But damn, some of those black ones move fast!
    I have heard that a friend of a friend was actually killed in a skid while swerving to avoid a critter so I temper that reflex.

  16. 16.

    MagdaInBlack

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Well, I’m glad to hear that about your spider rescue, because I am regularly doing that at the office, to the amusement of my coworkers. To their credit, they come and tell me if there’s a spider/cricket/bug in the bathroom.

    It’s a life, I figure. ?

    Eta: It nearly broke my heart this spring when I accidentally squished a toad during a rainy morning commute.

  17. 17.

    Almost Retired

    I wish falcons could be trained to engage in minor acts of harassment against execrable humans.  Like swoop in and yank off toupees, or power-shit on Savile Row suits.  Anyone attempting to enter Trump International Hotel or CPAC should have to fear the falcons.

  19. 19.

    CaseyL

    Same here: Love raptors, love watching them in action, could not deal with supplying them with live food.  Same reason I never kept snakes as pets.

    A few decades ago, while volunteering at Miami’s MetroZoo, I had the opportunity to hold a large owl on my arm (can’t remember what species it was).  They only weigh a few pounds, but feel much heavier when you hold them for a while!

    Note about spiders you find in your house:  I have read that those are meant to be indoors, and putting them outside isn’t good for them.

    I live alone, love spiders, and when one decides to live in my house I no longer take them outside. My only concern is that they won’t find enough bugs to live on.  (It’s usually during the winter, when odds of finding any bugs outside to bring in for them are slim-to-none.)  (I should probably stock up on mealworms or something!)

  20. 20.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Almost Retired:

    Like swoop in and yank off toupees, or power-shit on Savile Row suits.  Anyone attempting to enter Trump International Hotel or CPAC should have to fear the falcons.

    I like the way you think.

  22. 22.

    Spanky

    Spring driving down here by the river can get exciting.  The frogs leaping to get in front of your car during rainy evenings. The box turtles crossing the roads any time during the day. Need to be on your toes and free of tailgaters if you’re going to keep your conscience clear.

    And that’s not even taking the deer into account.

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    Trained raptors I’ve observed are fed with pieces of chicken and whatnot. IDK if one needs to hunt with the bird to participate in falconry, but then my level of falconry knowledge is just ahead that of my polo knowledge. Training includes lures on cords.

    Lady who does the bird show at the local zoo told my daughter and I that her counterpart at the Fresno Zoo had his thumb damaged by an owl, crunched it through the glove. Evidently their grip is off the charts compared to other raptors. Just so you know.

  25. 25.

    Kattails

    @MagdaInBlack: oh God, “frogging suicide season” around here. Fall, cool air warm roads + rain. Night time. Little ones, big ones, all over the roads, virtually impossible to avoid. You dodge one on the right you’ll nail the one 3 feet further on the left.

  26. 26.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I just came back from a concert with a flautist who played songs by American composers. She played beautiful music but was also interesting. She started with a fife and played late 18th century songs and w worked her way through others composers including Copeland and Joplin.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    In other birb news we have our first successful nesting doves in years, in the tree outside our bedroom. Once had two or three nestings/year but more cats, squirrels and rats in the neighborhood made any attempts unsuccessful. I put pieces of hardware cloth far out a couple of branches that were ignored until recently. Only one chick instead of the usual two but it’s getting large and will fledge soon. Need to keep an eye on the bird dog until the nest is empty. He has not figured out they’re even there but does have stern words when one of the parents is waiting on a wire before flying down to the nest to pull their shift.​

  31. 31.

    realbtl

    Monday I was coming back from a picnic when I came across a mama duck leading her seven 3″ tall fluff balls across the road to the lake 50 yards down the slope.  Stopped with flashers straddling the center lane so they could cross.  This being a Montana non-tourist road everyone was cool though I questions mom’s nest site choice.

  32. 32.

    dopey-o

    and don’t even kill bugs other than stinkbugs

    Stinkbugs, when crushed, emit a hormone which attracts other stinkbugs. So smashing them is an exercise in futility. I keep a jar containing water with dish detergent in which to drown them. Also a handy way to keep score.

  33. 33.

    AliceBlue

    @quakerinabasement: Harry Crews is not for everyone, but I love his work, especially A Childhood – A Biography of a Place and Feast of Snakes.  He wrote a short story called You’ll Like My Mother’s Grave that is get-under-your-skin creepy.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    and the geckos keep the spiders (and flies) in check. 

    But nothing will stop them from repeatedly asking if you want to save 15% or more on your car insurance.

  39. 39.

    does it matter?

    Jesus John. If you feel that way, just stop it with the”I made a rib roast and it was wonderful” BS. You can not compartmentalize the suffering of animals you eat for 15 minutes of pleasure if you feel that way about other animals. Period. Just make the leap and stop eating them. FFS

  45. 45.

    Booger

    If you have not read “H is for Hawk” you owe it to yourself. Breathtakingly beautiful, haunting writing.

  47. 47.

    joel hanes

    Cole: Weren’t you the guy who was going to decoy in and encourage a flock of crows?

    Speaking of which: I’m back at my Mom’s place in Iowa, and if you were serious about wanting crow decoys, I would be happy to send you my grandfather’s silhouette crow decoys.
    I’d guess there’s maybe twenty of them, and they certainly worked for grandpa.

  49. 49.

    Mary G

    The teen’s first girlfriend had a snake and when I was driving them to and from school to try to keep them on the straight and narrow would occasionally ask me to stop at the pet store. She had to buy a live rat and it was scrabbling around in its little paper bag and I felt like I was reprising Tom Hanks in The Green Mile.

    I may have posted this a time or three, but just if you didn’t hear, the teen managed to graduate from high school on time and has a dishwashing job at the most visited tourist restaurant and is raking in the bucks. He is in a libertarian phase because of with holding/SS savings.

  51. 51.

    Juju

    I thought that when you killed a stinkbug they made a foul odor, hence the name stinkbug. As for not wanting to kill most insects, if a brown recluse spider ever bit you, you might change your mind about those.  I hate those things with a vengeance.

  52. 52.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mary G:

    She had to buy a live rat and it was scrabbling around in its little paper bag 

    Rat-proof paper bag?  Strong paper.

  58. 58.

    brantl

    @Mary G: They all seem to do that, point out the roads, the schools and the fire department, that comes whether your credit’s good, or not.

  59. 59.

    does it matter?

    seriously, are the rules that you can’t make a mildly critical comment to John? I have a menagerie of rescue animals, did not vote for trump, hold opinions similar to yours, but apparently have crossed the line here, huh?

  63. 63.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @raven: LOL. OK then! But she didn’t appear in this concert.

    The flautist said that one reason the fife fell out of favor was that it was always out of tune but she was going to play it anyway. That made me laugh. I like daring like that–which really applies to Janis too

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    Watching (on delay) today’s Tour stage, which features this year’s first high passes, the descents of which they’re doing in pi**ing rain. Not completely human, these guys.

    All hail Slovenia.

  66. 66.

    quakerinabasement

    @AliceBlue: Yeah, he’s definitely a southern gothic. The Hawk is Dying is one of his best, though–absolutely barebones, nothing wasted storytelling.

  70. 70.

    Josie

    And it is raining again in Houston. If this keeps up, we are all going to have webbed feet. In previous years at this time, my brother in Washington State feels sorry for me due to the heat and I feel sorry for him due to the soggy weather there. This year it is all turned around. But climate change is “fake news.”

  73. 73.

    realbtl

    “She had to buy a live rat and it was scrabbling around in its little paper bag” sounds like a great first line for a novel.

  74. 74.

    Paul T

    Well, if you admire falcons and hawks…that is what they do. Find cute things, fly down, catch, and eat them.

  75. 75.

    frosty

    @Jay:  One of several climate tipping points: burning boreal forests. Canadian wild fires are Not.Good.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @does it matter?: I am not sure what comment you are referring to?

    A person’s very first comment goes into moderation until it is manually approved by a front pager.  I just approved your comment at #53, so if that’s the one you were referring to, it wasn’t deleted, it just wouldn’t show up until I approved it.

    In fact, if you post multiple comments before the first one is approved, they all go into moderation.

    If that isn’t what you were referring to, let me know.

  80. 80.

    Dan B

    @Kattails: We were in Costa Rica in some land crab mating.  There were thousands on the little gravel road to our place on the beach.  The road was covered with smashed crabs for the week.  Probably four cars drove that road each night.  Thousands!

    We have little interest in visiting in the much more fecund rainy season.

  82. 82.

    DocH

    @trollhattan: keeping a raptor without hunting it is seen in the community as pet keeping, not falconry. And there are a ton of better pets.

    It’s a wonderful sport – 20 years in and it’s still as interesting as it was day one.

  83. 83.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @CaseyL: A two-pound bird is a Hell of a big bird.  Our biggest macaw weighs a bit over 2.5 pounds.  Owls are mostly feathers.

    There is an excellent bird sanctuary/rehab up the road where they have, among many other fascinating specimens, a female bald eagle.  The females are brown, like a larger golden eagle, and they are much bigger than the males.  This one weighs 12 pounds.  I have not seen them handle her — I hope to have that opportunity later this year — but 12 pounds is much more than most people could imagine perched on their forearm.

    But then I have also had my foot trodden upon by a domestic turkey — 30 pounds.  That was very uncomfortable (and not an accident: she was begging handouts).

  85. 85.

    JMG

    I have seen a hawk kill a rabbit in our back yard. Rabbits are cute, but hawks gotta eat, too. It’s nature, lots of animals get eaten no matter how cute they are. If a cute human isn’t careful off the coast of Cape Cod, a shark will eat him/her.

  86. 86.

    Dan B

    @Kattails: The Appendix has a role in the immune system, far from being unnecessary.  Mine’s been gone for many decades so it’s role is not large.*

     

    *He says while hoping that a host of plagues does not plague him tomorrow.

  88. 88.

    WereBear

    John’s right. I can’t do falconry either… though I live with five obligate carnivores, I just open cans for them.

    I felt bad enough with the lizard, dumping the weekly box of crickets in there. I got it for Cat TV, but the lizard just sat on his electric rock. But they did like to watch him, just in case, but I imagine it’s like a bad series that never kicks into high gear.

  89. 89.

    James E Powell

    @does it matter?:

    A John Cole post in which he declared & explained his switch to vegetarianism would be the least surprising thing I could read on this blog. I’ve kind of expected it for a while and I can’t say why, exactly.

  90. 90.

    dp

    @Booger: I was scrolling to make sure someone mentioned that book.  Excellent, and it would have moved me to look into it but for my having Cole’s lack of interest in killing small game.

  91. 91.

    Dan B

    @O. Felix Culpa: Glad you on the mend.  It was determined by the experts that I did not have appendicitis the first go-round.  Having it out the first time is preferable.  I was tired with a sore tummy for weeks both times – back in the bad old days of 6 inch incisions.  It was a relief to me they operated on you the first time.

  94. 94.

    Suzanne

    @A Ghost to Most:

    I hope I die before I get old. 

    Oh, fuck that.
    I have been working on my salty old lady DGAF since I was a teenager and I am sure that I will be a woman in full in my dotage.

  96. 96.

    Dan B

    @frosty: Did I read it was 118 in Siberia last week?

    I’m concerned about fires in Seattle metro.  We’re already verging on drought and our neighborhoods are filled with big conifers that are 150′ resin rich potential torches.  Our closest water is next to a hundred+ acre park of old growth forest.

  97. 97.

    Mary G

    @brantl: I told him that if I didn’t live on government money with Social Security and Medicare, he would not have a roof over his head. He’s mostly a good liberal, but hears a lot of shit from tourists from red states looking for the Real Orange County where they think John Birchers are thick on the ground.

    My mom and I had my honorary niece (age 22 or so) staying with us in 2007-2009 or so, and watched a lot of the speeches and conventions with us, She said we sounded like sports fans, because we would cheer Obama and shout rude things at McCain, and I was pleased she was getting indoctrinated into politics at a nice young age. Then she fell into the cult of Ron Paul and Antifa and Bernie. I think she’ll grow out of that, or I hope so.

  100. 100.

    SFBayAreaGal

    @SiubhanDuinne: I also will catch spiders with cups, cardboard, or paper, and put them outside. Depending on the type of spider I will catch them with my hands. I’m  known as the spider whisperer.

  107. 107.

    dexwood

    My son’s great pal is a falconer. He has a federal permit allowing him to rescue, rehabilitate, or own raptors unable to be released into the wild again. The Great Horned owl living in a secure, large pen on his backporch is a wonder to see. Two years ago, my son and N took the falcon out to the west mesa for exercise and to hone it’s hunting skills. He uses the rabbits caught, mostly, to feed the birds he cares for. On this particular morning, they could see the hawk returning with its prey, a rabbit they thought. The captured animal was a chihuahua, a puppy, that despite being firmly clutched, was unharmed. They were near one of the city’s Animal Welfare shelters so they took the pup there. It was unchipped, no way to trace an owner. My son said he’d adopt it if it was unclaimed. Two weeks later, the city called him and he immediately went to adopt it. It is a fantastic dog he named Orville.

  112. 112.

    Dan B

    @SiubhanDuinne: Urban legend or whatever I read that Daddy Long Legs poison is equal to Black Widow’s but they can’t penetrate skin.  I imagine most spiders have poison to subdue their prey.  I still like them.  Tarantulas, which we saw regularly in Arkansas can be elegant, like the blond one with black outline that was crossing the road one day – gorgeous critter that choreographed its eight legs.  So precise!

  114. 114.

    JMG

    I’m old, but aside from the aches and pains (knees, back, etc., still minor) and a variety of surgeries, I don’t feel much different than I did, well, to be honest, when I was 30-35 (20-25 me was not ready for monogamy and proved it). Biggest differences are I can’t stay up late, DEFINITELY can’t party, and have lost my taste for travel. Otherwise, the thoughts in my head could’ve been and probably were there in 1980.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    I have and use guns on the farm — have shot to put down two deer which were fatally injured, yet alive and suffering! First was an 8-point buck, beautiful deer, had been savaged by coyotes, was wounded in his abdomen, intestines out. Killed him quickly, buried in the bottom.

    Later on, the neighbors up the hill, they share the road and well with us, called to ask me to look after a fawn with a broken leg. Same, shot it to end the suffering, left in the woods, some years back.

    This spring a tiny fawn was left by the tiny pond outside our front door. It was against the rock hillside, no doubt stashed by mom. At first we thought mom would show up in the evening to take her fawn away, so we kept the dogs inside long after sunset to give the deer a chance to get their act together. it’s pretty typical for a deer mom to stash a fawn for the day and to come back to reclaim the kid in the evening.

    But that didn’t happen, and I found the larger dog with the deceased fawn on the back porch. Only the perfect face was left, I gathered it up and put it into the trash. Sad. I expect it was injured, ill  or otherwise not going to make it, thus abandoned by it mother. Nature, red in tooth and claw, someone famous once said.

    I try to save spiders in the house. Wolf spiders are especially huge and easy to rescue and drop into the ferns outside. But not everyone makes it…

  119. 119.

    glc

    @Ryan: Not sure if that’s an Ayn Rand reference or just a natural reaction hereabouts.

    I believe he is very much as he ever was.

  120. 120.

    SFBayAreaGal

    I was outside at my sister’s house last year and saw a hawk fly down capture a small bird (feathers flying). The hawk landed in the street, then took off and landed on the neighbor’s roof across the street. The hawk then lost its grip on the bird. The bird started rolling down the roof, the hawk caught it and flew off. All of this happened in less than 30 seconds.

    I was stunned, fascinated, and in awe of being able to witness this.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    We have a large group of Barred Owls who mostly roost up on the high ridge behind the house. They call in the evenings with the standard Barred Owl call, which I can reproduce pretty well. Well enough for them to respond and talk to me until one or the other of us needs to go on with our evening.

    I have pics of one of them perched just outside the kitchen solarium, I intend to sent them in one of these days. I saw one swoop down the hollow just this afternoon, came and gone in instants.

    They did in our neighbor’s small flock of guinea hens in just a few days, and when we kept yard bird chickens one would disappear every week or two…scream in the middle of the night, streak of feathers from high up on the cedar tree they roosted in. Amazing birds to see when you get a chance.

  122. 122.

    Josie

    My post retirement gig was teaching school children at a bird sanctuary. I had a group of third graders enthralled at one station with my patter about what the birds liked to eat when a cooper’s hawk swooped down into a group of sparrows and took off with one amid much fluttering and loss of feathers. It was an unfortunate depiction of the circle of life.

  123. 123.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    And one of the major components of falconry is killing small adorable things. So it is never going to be in my future.

    I respect those feelings, especially seeing as how it’s not a hobby you can just screw around with for a year before moving on. That said, without judgment, I read an essay I appreciated, saying basically, “if you’re a carnivore, you need to be able to boil a lobster.” Why? Well – eating meat means things are being killed. You should admit that (said the article). And sure, it’s really hard to kill some animals, even when it seems like the compassionate thing to do.

    Ah, but a lobster? It’s not cute; it’s not cuddly; in fact, if you saw it in your driveway, and had big enough feet, encased in sufficiently protective boots, you’d probably strongly consider stomping on it.

    And it won’t bleed (nor will it scream – that’s steam from inside the shell), and literally doesn’t have enough brain to feel pain more than momentarily, to the extent of our knowledge. Essentially, the essay said, you probably haven’t really considered your moral choices, if you won’t participate in one of the most distanced acts of killing possible.

    I don’t agree with the article entirely, but I do like how it pushed the need to own the moral choice.

  124. 124.

    does it matter?

    @John Cole: it’s up, #39 where I beg you to apply your compassion to your diet.

     

    I totally agree with your sentiment re:critters and cannot square eating ones who have suffered more fear and pain than you could stand to think of in your own animals. Plus the lovely “fuck your feelings” blind spot most lefties show vegetarians and hippies etc.

  126. 126.

    JMG

    @does it matter?: I have total respect for vegetarians. My son’s fiancee (wife in five weeks) is one. We had no animal whatsoever in dinner tonight (a brown rice, black bean, shredded carrot, pineapple, lime juice and ginger salad Alice makes). And tomorrow I’m grilling hot dogs for the 4th. I am an omnivore like most of my species and I’m not ashamed nor proud of it. It just is, like nature.

  130. 130.

    Tazj

    @Mary G: My 16 year-old just got a job at the local supermarket and spent the first day of orientation signing a lot of paperwork. He complained to me that they tried to hide the fact that they were taking one dollar a week from his salary for the union.He said he wasn’t giving anyone his money and wouldn’t sign for it and was very proud of himself for catching it. I told him that he would be free loading off other people who were paying for it and that the union provided a lot of protections and benefits for workers. I said that he would appreciate unions if he had worked for places that had no unions like I had. Of course, my talk my no difference at all to him.
    I think all of you are better than I am when it comes to insects. I am bug phobe and the best I can do is try to get them outside regardless of the weather. Live or die, that’s the best I can do. This spring I had all kinds of spiders in my house. Many in my shower and one I found curled up in a checkbook. Not fun for me at all.

  131. 131.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Anyone interested in falconry should check out UK based YouTube Channel “Falconry And Me.” Especially enjoyable are her videos interacting with huge adorable smart Raven named Fable.
    Viewers send her toys they have made for Fable, she has a couple at least videos reviewing these.
    Fable “talks” a lot, especially saying “boop, boop” to get attention of her owner.
    I think of Fable every time I back my Volvo SUV out of the garage, because its proximity alarms sound like Fable’s “boop, boop”s.

  132. 132.

    Miss Bianca

    @Booger: And if you had any idea what that woman put her bird through, including killing it before publication through sheer ignorance (per my UK falconing acquaintance), you would never say so. I hate that book.

  134. 134.

    monoglot

    I cannot recommend highly enough a new book on caracaras:  A Most Remarkable Creature by Jonathan Meiburg.  Truly, they are remarkable creatures, and the last chunk of the book detailing his walk through the Amazon is so beautifully written it was transformative.

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