Watch Dora the falcon take out a duck- in midair.
posted by pjern on May 3, 2013 - 59 comments

The houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata) is a turkey-like bird found in sandy and stony desert-like regions. The bustard is a favored prey of the falcon, though it has a strong defense against its predator: the forceful excretion of a dark green anal slime. The bustard's meat is prized as an aphrodisiac (or possibly a diuretic) by falconers, and its mating display is flamboyant, though slightly disorienting. [more inside]
posted by obscurator on Dec 1, 2012 - 16 comments

Parahawking in Nepal: beautiful footage of paragliders working with raptors to find thermals. [more inside]
posted by quin on Mar 17, 2012 - 11 comments

Hawkman of the Himalayas. British falconer Scott Mason and friends have combined paragliding and falconry into the art of parahawking. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Jan 23, 2009 - 7 comments

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.
posted by dkg on Aug 23, 2007 - 8 comments

The sport and hobby of Falconry, or hunting small game with raptors has been around since ~600 bce. What you might not have known is that there is a small industry to provide your hawk or falcon with a jaunty chapeau, often necessary to keep the bird calm. More here, here, and here. And then there's the crazy. All you need... is five-hundred geepee...
posted by exlotuseater on Jan 11, 2007 - 12 comments