Any Raptor Lovers?
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prairieschooner
- Bamboo Fanatic
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- Joined: 05/01/16 11:54
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Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#21Saw this lovely lady while pheasant hinting in SD last year...
I spent most of my money on shotguns, fly rods, guitars and banjos. The rest I just wasted. (Apologies to W.C. Fields)
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#22Having known the late Morley Nelson, THE Premier raptor conservationist in the US, I have had the privilege of visiting his "refuge" in north Boise, ID., and listen to his stories; one of which still sticks with me. He was one of the few falconers in the US, if not the only one, to legally posses a Gyr Falcon, named Thor (a truly majestic bird to see and watch play with the numerous tennis balls provided for his amusement). Morley told about the time he took Thor some distance out into the desert north of Boise to fly him, as flying him in the city was too risky (one never knew when he might "take" something down). He released him, and then drove to the top of a butte where he could better watch him. All of a sudden, Thor went into a power dive! Morley was at a loss as to what Thor had seen, and was diving on. Suddenly, Morley noticed a guy riding a bicycle on the road into the area; and, Thor was headed straight for him! Morley jumped into his truck and raced down off he butte just in time to see Thor take the bicyclist down! Morley was sure that the guy had been seriously hurt, as Thor had made two passes at him, and that he (Morley), was in for a long legal battle. Much to his surprise, the guy said that he was unscathed; just a little startled at being taken down by a Gyr Falcon in the desert! Thankfully, the guy was wearing a bikers helmet. Turned out that the guy had an interest in falconry, and was extremely delighted to see his first Gyr falcon, up close and personal, after Morley had retrieved him.
For those who know nothing about Morley, he was the owner/trainer of both the Bald Eagle used in the old USPS TV commercials, as well as the Red Tailed Hawk used in the Buick TV commercials. All were magnificent birds!
Always wanted a male Sparrow Hawk (now known as Kestrels) as a boy to train.
Frank
For those who know nothing about Morley, he was the owner/trainer of both the Bald Eagle used in the old USPS TV commercials, as well as the Red Tailed Hawk used in the Buick TV commercials. All were magnificent birds!
Always wanted a male Sparrow Hawk (now known as Kestrels) as a boy to train.
Frank
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toothybugs
- Master Guide
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- Joined: 02/11/07 19:00
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Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#23Where did Lee Slikkers disappear off to? He got back in to falconry and took a hiatus from building bamboo rods.
- NJG
(It's Nate, but I generally only sign my initials.)
Got loopage?
http://plumbrookrods.wordpress.com
(It's Nate, but I generally only sign my initials.)
Got loopage?
http://plumbrookrods.wordpress.com
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baetisfisher
- Sport
- Posts: 33
- Joined: 01/09/12 14:00
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#24Mid-September three years ago. I was fishing Wood Road on the Henry's Fork. Had seven seven (7!) Bald Eagles in a thermal right above me. Each one eventually peeled off to hopefully find someone else to delight. Got to call my wife from my cell phone while it was going on. But no photos. Turkeys may have been Ben's nominee for national bird but someone one upped him.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#25I saw a Bald Eagle yesterday while out canoeing with my son yesterday (in the Skokie Lagoons, part of the Chicago River network). We have never had eagles around here (15 miles north of Chicago) but now I have seen 4-5 in the past year. I've heard reports that there is a nesting pair in the Chicago Botanic Gardens near here so the one we saw may be one of those.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#26We have two Bald Eagle nesting pairs on our lake (Tormentor Lake, Smithfield VA). My wife and I watch them hunt shad, bass or whatever they decide is on the menu. The Ospreys are fun to watch as well, they have two types of attacks, a 90 deg dive bomb, and a low altitude skimming pick up, fabulous birds. Yes raptors are fun to watch.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#27This morning Dad brought some real food - no more regurgitated yuk.
I missed the young owl on the right fly over just left of Dad. Even though the flight was only maybe 10 feet, I guess you could call them Fledglings now.
I missed the young owl on the right fly over just left of Dad. Even though the flight was only maybe 10 feet, I guess you could call them Fledglings now.
Last edited by jhuskey on 04/23/19 17:07, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#29This is a story about Charlie. Wife and I were telling some friends about him and thought I'd share for those willing to tackle a fairly long read.
Charlie was a truly giant black rooster that ruled the roost among the laying hens we had in the coop behind our minnow shop up north (Finland, MN). He was a great pet for a few years and stood taller than any chicken most have ever seen. He wandered around the yard and loved the dead minnows I cleaned from tanks daily. One day a guy stopped in and introduced himself as a Falconer who had a license to take a young bird. He wondered if in all the wandering I did in the north woods chasing my minnow traps if I'd located a Falcon nest. I told him No but I was also a Falconer and if he'd wait a minute I'd go get my bird. He said cool, I'd love to see it. I went behind the minnow shack and bent down and had Charlie hop up on my arm. He'd sit there and kind of wobble back and forth keeping his balance and clucking low.
Well, I walked back out in front of the minnow house with Charlie wobbling on my arm and the genuine Falconer almost fell over laughing. Charlie was a great pet until our young son got to walking. He cried and said Charlie bit him. I thought he was joking until I saw Nick Jr. walking and Charlie charged, jumped up and knocked him down and pecked at him. That was end of Charlie. Fortunately for him a neighbor living in the woods had expressed his desire to have Charlie for his hen house so Charlie got a reprieve from the shotgun.
Not long after the hens quit laying regular and we decided we'd had enough of their mess anyway so we butchered them all. The last few realized what was going on and disappeared and my neighbor Bigfoot and I had to go hunt them in the woods behind the house. We also found out the only way to eat old laying hens is 24 hours in a crock pot. My Mom had a pressure cooker but we didn't and used the overnight crock pot to make the meat edible and not like chewing rubber.
Charlie was a truly giant black rooster that ruled the roost among the laying hens we had in the coop behind our minnow shop up north (Finland, MN). He was a great pet for a few years and stood taller than any chicken most have ever seen. He wandered around the yard and loved the dead minnows I cleaned from tanks daily. One day a guy stopped in and introduced himself as a Falconer who had a license to take a young bird. He wondered if in all the wandering I did in the north woods chasing my minnow traps if I'd located a Falcon nest. I told him No but I was also a Falconer and if he'd wait a minute I'd go get my bird. He said cool, I'd love to see it. I went behind the minnow shack and bent down and had Charlie hop up on my arm. He'd sit there and kind of wobble back and forth keeping his balance and clucking low.
Well, I walked back out in front of the minnow house with Charlie wobbling on my arm and the genuine Falconer almost fell over laughing. Charlie was a great pet until our young son got to walking. He cried and said Charlie bit him. I thought he was joking until I saw Nick Jr. walking and Charlie charged, jumped up and knocked him down and pecked at him. That was end of Charlie. Fortunately for him a neighbor living in the woods had expressed his desire to have Charlie for his hen house so Charlie got a reprieve from the shotgun.
Not long after the hens quit laying regular and we decided we'd had enough of their mess anyway so we butchered them all. The last few realized what was going on and disappeared and my neighbor Bigfoot and I had to go hunt them in the woods behind the house. We also found out the only way to eat old laying hens is 24 hours in a crock pot. My Mom had a pressure cooker but we didn't and used the overnight crock pot to make the meat edible and not like chewing rubber.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#31Young owls are flying pretty good and all over the neighbourhood. No photos, but lots of rabbit parts which our dogs are finding. The adult is still close by and should remain so through Fall, maybe Winter. Spring brings rabbits running gleefully about, feeling all lovey-dovey. Owls are eating well.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#33We have many many raptors in our area, and I see lots of species on the streams, in my yard and in the woods.
I could tell a lot of owl stories from all over North America. And have seen hawks and eagles from TDF in South America to Alaska.
But have never seen the effects of Bald Eagles and Osprey on a trout stream like I have seen in the last ten years or so close to home. I fish a lot of the S E US tailwaters. I see Bald Eagles and Osprey on about a daily basis and on about every one of the local tailwaters. And the eagles and the osprey often nest in the same general areas and midair territorial dispute fight s are common. From the river you can watch fledglings in nests grow to flight.
More interestingly to me is the toll those birds take on the trout in the 12-18 inch range . I see them take fish that size regularly, like daily , and I see their talon marks on each side of the swoop-escapees on a very large number of the fish that size that I catch in certain river areas. I guess 25% of the fish in that size range a certain area have had a near death experience with a raptor. The wounds they leave are likely eventually deadly as generally they are deep and rotten looking. Then you have the ever present Great Blues working the shoreline and delivering similar but different spike shots in to their backs.
Its tough world for a trout with the otters in the rivers and the raptors in the air. They are NOT practicing catch and release intentionally.
I could tell a lot of owl stories from all over North America. And have seen hawks and eagles from TDF in South America to Alaska.
But have never seen the effects of Bald Eagles and Osprey on a trout stream like I have seen in the last ten years or so close to home. I fish a lot of the S E US tailwaters. I see Bald Eagles and Osprey on about a daily basis and on about every one of the local tailwaters. And the eagles and the osprey often nest in the same general areas and midair territorial dispute fight s are common. From the river you can watch fledglings in nests grow to flight.
More interestingly to me is the toll those birds take on the trout in the 12-18 inch range . I see them take fish that size regularly, like daily , and I see their talon marks on each side of the swoop-escapees on a very large number of the fish that size that I catch in certain river areas. I guess 25% of the fish in that size range a certain area have had a near death experience with a raptor. The wounds they leave are likely eventually deadly as generally they are deep and rotten looking. Then you have the ever present Great Blues working the shoreline and delivering similar but different spike shots in to their backs.
Its tough world for a trout with the otters in the rivers and the raptors in the air. They are NOT practicing catch and release intentionally.
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fishnbanjo
- The Canefather
- Posts: 4282
- Joined: 03/21/04 19:00
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#34We have a fair gamut of hawks, and owls, around with a nesting pair of Redtails just up the road in the woods, also have a nesting pair of Bald Eagles the past 3 years and took 6 trips in 2 days to get a shot at one. For the first time last year we had a nesting pair of Ospreys but the Bald Eagles felt they were too close and drove them off.
banjo
banjo
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cutthroatkid
- Guide
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- Joined: 10/04/16 07:12
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#35I volunteer at the wildlife rehab center in Helena mainly working with our ambassador birds - those too injured to be released. Here are a few cool things about Great Horned Owls some people may not know:
The eye are enormous. In a human skull the eye sockets take up about 5% of the skull volume - for GHOs the sockets take up 70 % of the skull volume.
The eyes are elongated, not round. This has the effect of increasing the focal length of the vision - in effect a telescopic lens.
The retina is densely packed with rods, but not very many cones, so they probably can't see color as well as we can but are much better at low-light vision (cones don't become activated until the light is fairly intense. You can't see colors very well at twilight).
Their sense of smell sucks. We occasionally receive an injured owl which has obviously recently eaten a skunk.
The eyes are fixed in the sockets so to look to the side owls have to turn their head. They have 14 bones in the neck compared to the 7 we have. I've read they have a 270 degree range of turning but swear I've been handling birds that got around much further than that.
The outer toe on owls is very moveable and can swivel around from the front to the back. This helps them grab prey no matter what the prey's orientation at night. Most birds are constructed with three toes pointing front and one to the rear. The only other bird of prey having this adaptation are ospreys.
Nonmigratory, they court in January and lay eggs in the dead of winter - not the ideal time to incubate eggs here in Montana. In the woods at night in winter you can hear them dueting one another (the male is smaller but has a deeper voice) - "Who's awake? Me, tooo".
They lay one egg a day but start incubating immediately so the chicks hatch at staggered intervals. This is known as "asynchronous hatching". Food is given to the most aggressively begging chick preferentially. In years of food abundance all chicks might survive, but when prey is scarce the oldest chick will get the most food and the others may starve (they then become food for the remaining chick). This sounds cruel but ensures that at least one chick has a good chance of making it through lean years.
They don't build a nest, but use the abandoned nest of a redtailed hawk or other bird.
Very cool animals. If you are in Helena fishing the Missouri and have some time, drop by the Montana Wild center run by Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Spring Meadow Lake. We bring our ambassador birds through the center starting at 8:30 through to about 11:00. Our current ambassador list includes 2 Great Horned Owls, plus kestrels, merlins, a peregrine falcon, redtailed hawks, Swainson's hawks, a long-eared owl and short eared owl, a rough-legged hawk, a western screech owl, and a golden eagle. You can see these birds up close and personal. The guy running the front desk of the center is an avid fisherman to pump for information.
The eye are enormous. In a human skull the eye sockets take up about 5% of the skull volume - for GHOs the sockets take up 70 % of the skull volume.
The eyes are elongated, not round. This has the effect of increasing the focal length of the vision - in effect a telescopic lens.
The retina is densely packed with rods, but not very many cones, so they probably can't see color as well as we can but are much better at low-light vision (cones don't become activated until the light is fairly intense. You can't see colors very well at twilight).
Their sense of smell sucks. We occasionally receive an injured owl which has obviously recently eaten a skunk.
The eyes are fixed in the sockets so to look to the side owls have to turn their head. They have 14 bones in the neck compared to the 7 we have. I've read they have a 270 degree range of turning but swear I've been handling birds that got around much further than that.
The outer toe on owls is very moveable and can swivel around from the front to the back. This helps them grab prey no matter what the prey's orientation at night. Most birds are constructed with three toes pointing front and one to the rear. The only other bird of prey having this adaptation are ospreys.
Nonmigratory, they court in January and lay eggs in the dead of winter - not the ideal time to incubate eggs here in Montana. In the woods at night in winter you can hear them dueting one another (the male is smaller but has a deeper voice) - "Who's awake? Me, tooo".
They lay one egg a day but start incubating immediately so the chicks hatch at staggered intervals. This is known as "asynchronous hatching". Food is given to the most aggressively begging chick preferentially. In years of food abundance all chicks might survive, but when prey is scarce the oldest chick will get the most food and the others may starve (they then become food for the remaining chick). This sounds cruel but ensures that at least one chick has a good chance of making it through lean years.
They don't build a nest, but use the abandoned nest of a redtailed hawk or other bird.
Very cool animals. If you are in Helena fishing the Missouri and have some time, drop by the Montana Wild center run by Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Spring Meadow Lake. We bring our ambassador birds through the center starting at 8:30 through to about 11:00. Our current ambassador list includes 2 Great Horned Owls, plus kestrels, merlins, a peregrine falcon, redtailed hawks, Swainson's hawks, a long-eared owl and short eared owl, a rough-legged hawk, a western screech owl, and a golden eagle. You can see these birds up close and personal. The guy running the front desk of the center is an avid fisherman to pump for information.
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LuckyStrikeV
- Guide
- Posts: 262
- Joined: 03/17/07 19:00
- Location: Vancouver Island
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Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#36http://www.NaturalImagesCanada.ca/blog
Scroll down a bit and check my Osprey photos from last Sunday!
Cheers
TerryV
Scroll down a bit and check my Osprey photos from last Sunday!
Cheers
TerryV
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#38I live in a very rural area of the Missouri Ozarks, and we hear Great Horned owls a lot at night, along with coyotes and other critters of the night. I see an occasional bald eagle as well here and more hawks and turkeys than I can count. My wife has a hummingbird feeder on the porch and as many as five or six at a time buzz around like giant hornets. We are ten miles from town and surrounded by wooded hills and pastures,all of which support all kinds of birds and other wildlife. I can walk outside and shoot a pistol at a target and no one cares. I love rural living.
Re: Any Raptor Lovers?
#39
I participated in banding three young Peregrines yesterday. The falcons have a nest site a mile south of my house. The adult male has been on this territory for 21 years now.
Last edited by Peales on 12/04/19 23:50, edited 1 time in total.