November 17-19, 2003
Eurasian Eagle Owl in Flight
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Owls
Mark showed us a Eurasian Tawny Owl, Eurasian Barn Owls, which are smaller than American Barn Owls, and an African Eagle Owl. While hawks and falcons hunt by day, owls hunt only at night. They have very fine, soft and tattered-edged feathers, which allow them to fly silently, so that the animals they hunt can’t hear them approaching. Owls have two ears, each of which are shaped differently from the other, and they’re located on different places on either side of their heads, enabling what Mark described as a "passive sonar". This allows them to hear and locate even the quietest sounds on the forest floor, or in the meadow, so that they can find and kill their prey even when they can’t see them. The eagle owl above is flying to Mark's glove, which holds a mouse treat, right over where Steve is holding the camera. |
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Falcons
Falcons are fascinating creatures. Falcons are aerodynamic marvels with pointed wings, and they are the fastest creatures on earth. A peregrine falcon can dive towards an unsuspecting bird at 200 miles per hour, often killing its prey by the sheer force of its impact. Falcons seek out cliffs or skyscrapers on which to nest, and then rain havoc on unsuspecting prey. Pigeons, a common prey of falcons living in Manhattan, harbor many deadly avian diseases, so Nature saw to it that the falcon is unusually resistant to such diseases. On day 2 of our training, we went to a farmer's field, and Mark released a peregrine falcon named Icarus. No wax in his wings, Icarus rose through brisk winds, and then delighted in diving and buzzing us like some miniature jet fighter. As a tennis player, I'm accustomed to very fast serves, but was unprepared for the thrill of having this small bird positively streak past my head. Mark threw out a home made lure, which looked like a tiny catcher's mitt, and which contained a tasty piece of mouse meat. Twirling the lure around his head at the end of a long line, he allowed Icarus to dive at the lure, and when he successfully hit it, Mark let it drop to the ground, where Icarus retrieved his prize. Falcons have notched beaks that can instantly cut the backbones of the small rodents and birds which they catch. |
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Hawks
Red-Tailed Hawks are large hawks, found all over North America, and are often the first bird of prey a falconer may train. The red-tail, like most large birds of prey, tends to stay with one mate, and retain the same hunting and nesting territory for years. They bond with people reasonably well, but are ruthless hunters, and will not hesitate to attack other birds of prey, or steal their food. Hawks have powerful talons, with strength seemingly all out of proportion to the size of the bird (adult red-tails are usually only 2-3 pounds!), and capable of exerting an almost inescapable grip on prey. Hawks kill their prey by closing their talons, which easily penetrate the prey's body. The Harris hawk, a smaller hawk which lives in Southwestern deserts, is the most social bird of prey, often hunting together in pairs or small groups. One may flush small game from beneath a rock or plant on the ground, while the others wait in ambush. They are more tolerant of people, and they not only fraternize with other Harris Hawks, they have this funny behavior where one will perch on a cactus, and a second may perch on the first’s back, and then a third may perch on the second’s back. Hey, maybe it's tough to find an easy place to perch on a Saguaro cactus. Wendy found she could stroke a Harris Hawk without fear, while I found an African Augur Buzzard tolerated my gloved hand as a perch, but followed carefully every movement of my free hand. Large hawks, like red-tails and their relatives, are called Buteos in the new world, while their European and African counterparts are called Buzzards. We learned that baby raptors reach full size quickly, often within 40 days of hatching, but while they appear to be larger than their parents, in reality this is another adaptation by Nature: young raptors who are just learning to fly lack the muscle development of their parents, so Nature provides them with slightly longer feathers to compensate and provide easier lift, and the result is they look larger, but may in fact be lighter. Females of all species are, however, larger than males. |
"Storm" the red-tail in various poses.
