Little Joe
27-07-2008, 04:24 PM
I had the privilege on two occasions to see wild peregrines in action.
While watching a musket Blackspar chasing a dove all over the sky for over a minute, a passage tiercel appeared out of nowhere to rob the spar at the exact instant the spar bound to the dove.
The second time I saw no kill but observed a breeding pair hunting in the main gorge of Augrabies Falls in South Africa. The tiercel made various attempts at Alpine swifts from a rock perch high above water level. His continued attempts convinced me that he knew from experience he could catch them.
My primary purpose for doing falconry is to marvel at the incredible flying abilities and strategies employed by raptors as they go through their paces. If it was possible to watch wild raptors hunt on demand, I probably would be so busy doing that, that I wouldn't have time to train and fly birds for myself.
Ultimately, falconry to me is not about the size of the bag (we got supermarkets after all), but about the quality of the flights. I'd much rather see a thousand foot vertical stoop that ends in a near kill, than a rathunt that results in a full bag.
I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter.
While watching a musket Blackspar chasing a dove all over the sky for over a minute, a passage tiercel appeared out of nowhere to rob the spar at the exact instant the spar bound to the dove.
The second time I saw no kill but observed a breeding pair hunting in the main gorge of Augrabies Falls in South Africa. The tiercel made various attempts at Alpine swifts from a rock perch high above water level. His continued attempts convinced me that he knew from experience he could catch them.
My primary purpose for doing falconry is to marvel at the incredible flying abilities and strategies employed by raptors as they go through their paces. If it was possible to watch wild raptors hunt on demand, I probably would be so busy doing that, that I wouldn't have time to train and fly birds for myself.
Ultimately, falconry to me is not about the size of the bag (we got supermarkets after all), but about the quality of the flights. I'd much rather see a thousand foot vertical stoop that ends in a near kill, than a rathunt that results in a full bag.
I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter.