My Latest Challenge

[MusketMad]

What A Nightmare This Has Been To Train

[DirtHawker]

I love the sign in the background. As if the birds biting is what people need to worry about.

[Coronatus]

Excuse the ignorance but what is it?! Looks like a juv. male W.T.Sea Eagle.?

[MusketMad]

I love the sign in the background. As if the birds biting is what people need to worry about.
HA HA MAKE YOU RIGHT MATE

[MusketMad]

Excuse the ignorance but what is it?! Looks like a juv. male W.T.Sea Eagle.?
YOU ARE SPOT ON MATE

[Coronatus]

How old and how far along is he? All the oneseen have been more tempramental than goldens or balds. Does he do the typical sea eagle thing with his beak?! :twisted:

[MusketMad]

He is a proper face biter...anyone on here that flys sea eagles baldies etc will know that horrible hissing noise as they lunge at your face ha ha ha...one of ours got my lip two weeks ago ...and im always telling the trainee falconers "dont hold them to close to your face" the bird that got me must have waited three years to get me and i gave it that extra 1/2 inch..bloody things

[MusketMad]

How old and how far along is he? All the oneseen have been more tempramental than goldens or balds. Does he do the typical sea eagle thing with his beak?! :twisted:whats that bite and hang upside down:lol:

[Coronatus]

He is a proper face biter...anyone on here that flys sea eagles baldies etc will know that horrible hissing noise as they lunge at your face ha ha ha...one of ours got my lip two weeks ago ...and im always telling the trainee falconers "dont hold them to close to your face" the bird that got me must have waited three years to get me and i gave it that extra 1/2 inch..bloody things

That look in their eye as they cock their head to one side just before lunging for ur face! Delightful lil birdies!!

[MusketMad]

That look in their eye as they cock their head to one side just before lunging for ur face! Delightful lil birdies!!
hes three years old now ..been training him for about three months but its hard work he flys well at 6lb 10 oz and is exellent on the fist all the while he is out but as soon as i walk him back in the mews hes like a bat...weve got a bald eagle that flys all day long we can put him out at 10 in the morning and he will soar above the centre at 2000 ft plus sometimes not landing or coming in till 3 in the afternoon ...parachutes in from height to the glove ...awwwwwesome

[RedNoseK9]

Lovely bied mate any chance we could be kept well informed of his progress and mannin techniques etc

[ReluctantTwitcher]

Oooh I know what you mean by the beak thing!

I helped train a juvenile male W.T Sea-Eagle one summer and quickly learned to pay attention to
that meat hook of a beak he was sporting. They did have some older W.T.s at the same centre
that were pretty ok though. Still, not really my favorite eagle species! (Although I do believe
they are rather intelligent as well as capable of some serious arial moves). Please do keep sharing
all things eagle Musketmad, always interesting to hear & see. Cheers,

/Magnus

[MusketMad]

keepin em in the air is the hardest thing...ive found the white tails quite hard ..we have two a female flys at 10 lb 3 oz but is scared of everything ...walked f***ing miles to get that thing back and had to carry it 2 miles talk about sore biceps

[Coronatus]

hes three years old now ..been training him for about three months but its hard work he flys well at 6lb 10 oz and is exellent on the fist all the while he is out but as soon as i walk him back in the mews hes like a bat...weve got a bald eagle that flys all day long we can put him out at 10 in the morning and he will soar above the centre at 2000 ft plus sometimes not landing or coming in till 3 in the afternoon ...parachutes in from height to the glove ...awwwwwesome

Theres nothing quite like the feel of an eagle stoopinp hundreds of feet to land like a butterfly on you outstretched arm!! 10lb+ female bald eagle stooping from 500ft ud never known she landed if you had your eyes closed! Til she closed her wings anyway! Lovely natured bird eventually! One of the nicest eagles iv ever handled once wed established biting doesnt work!!

[ReluctantTwitcher]

That look in their eye as they cock their head to one side just before lunging for ur face! Delightful lil birdies!!

I can still picture the W.T. I helped train in front of me doing exactly that, Coronatus!
I always got the distinct feeling that there were some rather unfriendly
calculations going on behind his eyes when he looked at my face.
It sounds antropomorphising (sp.?) I know, but it really felt like he was
calmly trying to figure out just how to tag me. Can't say I miss him!;-)
/Magnus

[Coronatus]

Ps sorry bout the **** pic! Its a photo of a photo!!!

[Coronatus]

I can still picture the W.T. I helped train in front of me doing exactly that, Coronatus!
I always got the distinct feeling that there were some rather unfriendly
calculations going on behind his eyes when he looked at my face.
It sounds antropomorphising (sp.?) I know, but it really felt like he was
calmly trying to figure out just how to tag me. Can't say I miss him!;-)
/Magnus

You can see theyre just waiting til your not quite paying attention!!:evil:

[ReluctantTwitcher]

You can see theyre just waiting til your not quite paying attention!!:evil:

Exactly!! Very calculating/cunning. Just waiting for that clear shot of you!:evil:

[ReluctantTwitcher]

Btw, you mentioned that your female turned out loveley natured in the end,
once you'd established that biting didn't work. What did you find helped
develop the lovelier side of her? Personally, I never got to see "my" eagle
end up like this, as I had to go back home for the autumn semester after 6
weeks (was still in school back then). All I got was a strong left biceps and
some slightly tender knuckles :lol: Did you ever grab hold of her beak when
she tried to bite you for instance? I've heard people advocating just that,
but never tried it myself. I personally think you need to show them in some
way or another that they can't dominate you, like they try with other Sea-
eagles at winter gatherings in the wild, but how best to achieve it I don't
know. What do you think? Cheers,

[Coronatus]

Found the best way was simply just to let her bite me! Fortunatley she never went for the face only the hands so i just used to ball my fists so the skin was tight and offer her the back of my hand. Every time she tried to bite id stroke her chest and when she stopped trying to bite id stop stroking and tid bit her. Took about 6weeks doing this everyday til she stopped constantly biting but made her much more pleasant to handle! Eventually if it was windy carrying her up the hill shed just tuck her head under my chin! Tried the grabbing the beak method with her sister(who was spawned by satan himself BTW!) because she kept going for my face and i didnt fancy leaving her to bite that! Found it worked to a degree but always felt after i relesed her she was just dying for another pop becauce of it!!

[ReluctantTwitcher]

Found the best way was simply just to let her bite me! Fortunatley she never went for the face only the hands so i just used to ball my fists so the skin was tight and offer her the back of my hand. Every time she tried to bite id stroke her chest and when she stopped trying to bite id stop stroking and tid bit her. Took about 6weeks doing this everyday til she stopped constantly biting but made her much more pleasant to handle! Eventually if it was windy carrying her up the hill shed just tuck her head under my chin! Tried the grabbing the beak method with her sister(who was spawned by satan himself BTW!) because she kept going for my face and i didnt fancy leaving her to bite that! Found it worked to a degree but always felt after i relesed her she was just dying for another pop becauce of it!!

Interesting, thanks a lot for sharing. Mine kept going for the face, so I used to keep my right hand, balled up, on my chest below the chin whenever manning him or flying him from fist to fist with my work mate. Whenever he tried to bite, I could then quickly make a parrying "block" by twisting & lifting
my wrist upwards. My hand would then stay up until he stopped trying to bite me and had calmed down. He was never tidbitted after any naughty spell,
since I didn't want to make him feel like he was gonna get any rewards for trying to bite me. In the end he didn't try to bite as often as he did during the first few weeks, but it certainly didn't cure him. I now feel that it would have been more beneficial to make him perform an opposing behaviour (like looking away from my face...lol) and then reward him.

[Coronatus]

Exactly. Once shed stop biting for a few mins then shed get a small reward. NEVER straight after biting!!!!

[MusketMad]

Exactly. Once shed stop biting for a few mins then shed get a small reward. NEVER straight after biting!!!!imagine trying to grab a stellers beak and missing

[MusketMad]

Its the look on her face when she realised this was sitting on the headrest behind her:D

[Trappa]

Stunning looking bird mate!

[Gary F]

great looking eagle mate,,what center you at,,eagle heights?
i was from chatham few years back,your face is familiar???