Comments on: Kite-flying Falconry

Kite-flying Falconry

dkg — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:32:22 -0800

How do you convince a raptor to exercise? One way is to send up a kite with bait (a chunk of meat) attached. This is a relatively new strategy (~30 years) in the millenia-old tradition of falconry.

By: caddis

caddis — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:50:46 -0800

That is interesting. I first came to love falconry after reading My Side of the Mountain as a teenager. Be your own person. When living in the wilderness as a minor, adopt a falcon to hunt small game for you. It seemed very much fun, if a bit impractical.

By: Gnostic Novelist

Gnostic Novelist — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:09:05 -0800

Animal Welfare Issues in Falconry

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:11:33 -0800

I'll see your meat kite, and raise you a hunting deer with an eagle.

By: rtha

rtha — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:24:30 -0800

Weird. And cool. And yeah, I have issues with falconry. Although, if it hadn't been for falconers and their obsessive record-keeping of the birds they bred, California wouldn't have gone from a wild peregrine population of two breeding pairs in about 1972 to more than 200 today. That's pretty much the story for peregrine recovery across the U.S. Watching a wild peregrine fly is seriously amazing. If you live in a big city (or even a medium-sized one), you're likely to have a pair of peregrines breeding on an office tower ledge, under a bridge, or even your state capitol. (Some of the stills from this year's cameras show why the peregrine was also known as the "big-footed falcon.")

By: quin

quin — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:25:48 -0800

My only concern is that those dynamic kites can move pretty quick, I'd worry that the bird might get hit with the string. (I know that the birds are really agile, but if they are focused on the food, they might not be paying as much attention to something like that.) Still, a pretty clever idea.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:56:58 -0800

I scrolled the FP and read "How do you convince a rapper to exercise". That is all.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:00:20 -0800

I exercise my raptors by releasing live Samuel L. Jacksons onto their tropical island amusement park.

By: Fricka

Fricka — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:22:40 -0800

I've been involved with falconry for about 2 years now and have worked with Red Tails and also a Peregrine who needed rehabilitating. I'd be hesitant to use the kite method, but I think it could work well in certain weather conditions. Like everything in falconry though, it would take a lot of patience and the ability to read your bird. As far as Peregrine's being "big-footed" I can attest to that... big, strong, yellow feet!