Whatbird.com

Good for you Rapter Lover... I see that you give back to the people by your lectures, and presentations to young schoolers. I respect that and I hope to meet you someday.

 

Fraser

Yes, I do give presentations to all age groups when I am asked to do so. These presentations are free and I really enjoy doing them. Plus, its good to socialize the birds with people as much as I can. It makes then easier to handle.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Raptor Lover,

Like the others, following your thread with much interest and awe. Some questions for you. I see you have a male and female Goshawk (quite stunning, both of them). Can you breed them? Is it allowed? Does it work in captivity? Are the two related (which would make the previous questions moot)? Sorry, my father gave me an incredible sense of the curious...

Once again, thank you for sharing, not only with us, but through your teachings with the birds!

Susan

Susan, actually I only have one female goshawk. My friend has the male goshawk. Yes, we are allowed to breed them in captivity and it is done by several breeders across the US. We {falconers} can breed all the birds used in falconry except golden eagles. That law {breeding of golden eagles} is being changed and within the next few years we will be allowed to breed them also. I am not a breeder and never will be. Its just not my cup of tea with all the headaches that are involved with the breeding process. A lot of AI {artificial insemination} is done with these birds because once they are in captivity, they are not natural breeders. There are exceptions to the rules, but, most are not natural breeders. You also have to have the proper permits, which are very easy yo get and only cost about $100 each. There has to be paperwork with every new born bird and they must be banded. Once the young are old enough, the breeder is allowed to sell them for a profit to another licensed falconer to be flown and hunted with. You would not want to breed related pairs to each other.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Terrific info Raptr, thanks!

 I guess I was just being the romantic and trying to find her a boyfriend! And I assume, since you don't like dealing with all of the attendant headaches that come with this, she (yours) will not be bread?

What I do with my females is fly them until they start laying eggs. Then I transfer them to a breeder in return for another young bird. He will breed the female and make his money and I don't have to pay for another bird. This bird was taken out of the wild and probably won't lay eggs for 3 or 4 years at least. I had a female Harris Hawk a couple of years ago and she laid eggs, so, I transfered her to the breeder and got another female Harris Hawk that I am flying now. That bird is going on 3 years old and hasn't started laying yet.

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Southwestern New Mexico

I flew the goshawk free for the first time yesterday. Today, I took her back out to the field and started teaching her to chase birds. Normally this is a job that the parents do. She is still young and is really not interested in killing anything, so, she will just chase things for a while. Then I bring her back by throwing out a leather lure with food attached to it. Today, she grabbed the pigeon, but, then let it go so she could chase it for a while. Here are a few shots of todays flight. The pigeon was not hurt and will be used again.

Climbing straight up after the pigeon 

Making contact with the pigeon 

Releasing the pigeon 

Starting to chase the pigeon 

Flying low through the bushes after the pigeon landed on the ground 

Landing in a tree before I called her down to the lure. 

 

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Southwestern New Mexico

Stunning shots!!!!  I'm just curious, and maybe I didn't read the previous posts carefully enough, but why do you raise raptors?  I'm not questioning your motives, just general curiousity.  Is it something to do with helping endangered birds? 

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!

No, the birds I fly are not endangered. What I do is the sport of falconry where we use the birds to do our hunting. I don't use a rifle or a shotgun, just the bird. Just about every state allows falconry to be practiced. You can go on line and google "falconry" and it will bring up many web pages dealing with falconry and the regulations that are involved. You must be licensed through your state and the federal government to practice falconry. It is very heavily regulated.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Okay, I understand now; thanks.

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!

Rapt.... im sorry to hear about your heart attack. Its been a while since we chattered. I had a stroke the first part of this year.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful thread

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Itsjustdeb

Well, hopefully you have recovered from your stroke. Its been almost a year since my heart attack and I am doing fine, I think.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Great shots, again.  I think I would be so in awe (and PROUD) of this bird and her acrobatic skills I would probably forget to take the pictures. (This, of course, has happened to me more than once in the field!) Thanks for the update! 

These birds really have to develope skills to catch their prey or they won't survive. I know that a lot of bird watchers frown on birds of prey, but, it is the balance of nature at its finest. The hunting is going to take place wether or not the predator is in my care or not. Thank you all for following this thread and I hope its entertaining and knowledgeable for you. Feel free to express your opinions wether they are pro or con about falconry. I took the birds {eagle and goshawk} to the National Guard Armory in our town on Sunday where they were having a summer acadamy. There were 125 kids between 12 and 16 years old. I will be taking the birds to the Silver City Recreation Dept tomorrow for 60 kids up to 15 years old. The kids really enjoy the talks and ask some really good questions.  

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Southwestern New Mexico

Raptr....you continue to be my hero!  Such stunning pics and story-line for this fabulous experience.  Makes us all feel like we "are there" with you.  Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

BTW....does that beautiful girl have a name?

Again, my heartfelt appreciation for the education and experience you have posted here.

Keep up the great work!  You ROCK!