Kite-flying Falconry
August 23, 2007 4:32 PM   Subscribe

 
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.
posted by caddis at 4:50 PM on August 23, 2007




I'll see your meat kite, and raise you a hunting deer with an eagle.
posted by Mr_Zero at 5:11 PM on August 23, 2007


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.")
posted by rtha at 5:24 PM on August 23, 2007


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.
posted by quin at 5:25 PM on August 23, 2007


I scrolled the FP and read "How do you convince a rapper to exercise". That is all.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:56 PM on August 23, 2007


I exercise my raptors by releasing live Samuel L. Jacksons onto their tropical island amusement park.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:00 PM on August 23, 2007


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!
posted by Fricka at 9:22 PM on August 23, 2007


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