yeah I have been there. it's a HORRIBLE first experience with the falconry world and has left me believing that the majority of them are stuck up arrogant jerks.... thankfully a few where nice enough to contact me privately and lend a hand, which is how i got to go out with this guy and get to where i am now.
falconry
- Thread starter Sylvias
- Start date
Conner;4916359; said:I tried to volunteer at a raptor rehab center here in Louisville, but they wouldn't let me unless I could commit to 30 hours a week. I was a full time student at the time with a part time job, so needless to say I couldn't do it.
I volunteered at a local raptor rehab one summer when I was 12 and I worked around that many hours a week, but of course I wasn't in school and I didn't have a job.
Sylvias I hope you don't mind if I share a few pics of this nifty looking Red-tail that had killed a squirrel in my neighbors yard a few years ago. It was extremely tame and hung around the area for a day or so. It had been very cold and that particular squirrel showed up at my neighbors bird feeder missing a foot/leg and the hawk ended up putting it out of it's misery. I took these pics from about 8 feet away and it pretty much could careless about me. It made me wonder if it was someones pet that had flown off. After it ate the squirrel it flew off and I never saw it again.
wow that is certainly an interesting looking red tail. hypomelanistic perhaps? It very well could have been a falconers bird at some point. Many falconers will catch a bird for a season or a few years and eventually release the bird back into the wild.
course that one could also have been captive bred for that color
course that one could also have been captive bred for that color
Sylvias;4917971; said:
Yeah I felt the same way...a few people contacted me too and showed me around. I just think they are highly protective(sometimes too much) of their hobby.....I can see it due to the bloodiness of it, but eh, maybe not so crazy
Well on the one hand....we could learn a lot from them and we should be more protective of our hobby as well..but not quite that bad... it would be good if we had federally regulated guidelines the way they do though
but it does not need to be quite so exclusive... I realize it's a bit different with them though because they are generally working with wild capture of federally protected species and we are mostly working with imported exotics...and the ones that are native are very rarely protected
but it does not need to be quite so exclusive... I realize it's a bit different with them though because they are generally working with wild capture of federally protected species and we are mostly working with imported exotics...and the ones that are native are very rarely protected
