Indonesian dragons can breed without the benefit of masculine companionship. Last week, researchers reported in Nature that the only two sexually mature female Komodo dragons in all of Europe laid viable eggs without insemination from a male. One Komodo, named Flora, lives at the Chester Zoo in England and has never been kept with a male; yet a few months ago she laid a clutch of 11 eggs, eight of which seem to be developing normally and may hatch as soon as January.
Falconry is time consuming and it is a highly regulated sport. (see NCWRC and USFWS regulations)
The time spent in training a hunting bird is great. But this time factor pales in comparison to the daily time in providing for the hawk's comfort and care. Food must be of the most natural variety and is not something that you find at the local supermarket's pet section. Hunting birds must be handled, weighed, and looked after daily in order to be successful at catching game. The utmost attention must be paid towards their health and well being.
The legal aspects of becoming a licensed falconer would seem somewhat overwhelming to many. Because birds of prey are protected by Federal law, having one is highly regulated by both State and Federal regulations. These regulations were originally written in order to ensure that, by law, the birds would be adequately cared for and would indeed be hunted with and not merely a pet. Falconers feel very strongly about the regulations and their enforcement. New falconers are required to serve a two year apprenticeship under an experienced falconer, score 80% or better on a comprehensive test relating to falconry, raptor biology, and health care of the birds, and build housing (inspected by the state game officials) that meet set requirements.
This is not to say that becoming a falconer is impossible. But all of these difficult requirements help to insure that only people dedicated to practicing the sport in a quality way are likely to participate.
If after considering all of this, you still would like to learn more, click here.
Peregrine Falcon Permit Application Now Available
RALEIGH, N.C. (July 21) – North Carolina resident and nonresident falconers can now apply for a permit for the live take of a peregrine falcon.
The application, which includes permit requirements and deadline information, can be downloaded here, or by visiting www.ncwildlife.org and clicking on the “Permit Hunting Opportunities on the right. Then scroll down to the "Peregrine Falcon-Migrant Permit Application" link. The application is also available for purchase by calling 1-888-248-6834. Falconers are required to provide their federal falconry permit number at the time of application.
The deadline for applications is Aug. 14, with the permit draw anticipated by Aug. 20, one month before the season opens. Two permits will be issued to North Carolina resident falconers, and one permit is open to both resident and nonresident falconers.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission approved the peregrine season earlier this month.
While I will not be applying for a permit, I hope to be part of the trapping team that will trap the first passage peregrines for falconry in decades.
Yeee- Haw
"The hunting instinct is deeply ingrained in man's make-up. It took 200,000 years for man to develop his meat-tearing carnasial teeth and the corresponding mental attitude to go with them. It will take far more than a few Acts of Parliament to get rid of both teeth and mental attitude. Stifle the hunting instinct completely and, oh boy! watch out for sexual squalls. I often wonder what the more violently anti-blood-sport types get up to in their private lives...Suppress hunting at your peril; the world will become a much more violent (place)".
People don't seem to like fish. They're slithery and slimy, and they have eyes on either side of their pointy little heads—which is weird, to say the least. Plus, the small ones nibble at your feet when you're swimming, and the big ones—well, the big ones will bite your face off if Jaws is anything to go by.
Of course, if you look at it another way, what all this really means is that fish ne
ed to fire their PR guy—stat. Whoever was in charge of creating a positive image for fish needs to go right back to working on the Britney Spears account and leave our scaly little friends alone. You've done enough damage, buddy. We've got it from here. And we're going to start by retiring the old name for good. When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it's time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?
Here's something else I noticed about falconers. They look at the sky. Most people just walk about, looking at ground level. Falconers are constantly glancing up at the sky. This chap was posing for photos when something caught his eagle's eye, and he instantly followed its gaze. A moment later I looked too. Couldn't see a thing! Just blue stuff with clouds floating in it.It happens to me all the time - something flies by. I catch it out of the corner of my eye, and time suspends while I stop everything and look, mid sentence, turkey leg half to my mouth. It drives my wife crazy.
... it’s heartening to see the Seasons’ End campaign, an effort by hunting and fishing organizations to find solutions to the climate change issue.Supported by such respected sportsman-led conservation groups as Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and others, the coalition offers substantial information on how climate change will affect game and fish species, and by extension hunting and fishing opportunities.
I admit that there is more that I could be doing to effect change. I could give more, spend more time, spread the word so that the future of my sport is sound.
Photo from http://munster.sasktelwebsite.net/PrairieSky.html
Check out the Season's End campaign. I'll be doing some reading, and then seeing what my wallet can handle.
S 460 is yet another bill actively supported by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and intended to put dog breeders and kennel owners out of business. It would also likely have a dramatic impact on those who use dogs when hunting. The legislation is both dangerous and unnecessary, as existing laws are already available to address the cruel treatment of dogs. People who mistreat dogs can be, and are being, prosecuted under these laws. S 460 is simply a deeply flawed, unnecessary bill, which has at its heart the anti-hunting, anti-dog breeder agenda of HSUS.
Vague definitions in the legislation will entrap many people who raiseI'm not a political guy, but the more time I spend hunting, being outside, I realize that there are forces out there that could really change the way that many of us choose as a way of life. It is important to be involved.
dogs as an avocation, serious hobbyists who do their own training and
handling, hunt clubs, hunting plantations, and professional trainers and
handlers who also raise a few litters of puppies.
Then we filled in our holes and moved on. We took the dogs down for a swim in the river, while Patrick and I cooled off watching them from the treeline.
The 2008 recovery plan for the northern spotted owl is not likely to help the iconic species recover. In fact, the plan could substantially increase threats to the bird, according to a new study in the journal Conservation Biology.
geon fanciers with a mighty broad brush. I am sure that not all roller pigeon fanciers want hawks and falcons killed. Instead, many of the articles I read cited the ones committing these crimes as "rogue elements" or used some similar term.Despite what newspapers and hunters tell us, hunting is a potentially dangerous sport! Every year, about 100 people are killed by hunters in the U.S., and approximately 1,000 people are wounded. Hunters can and will shoot too close to houses, roads, hikers and campers. According to the International Hunter Education Association, in 1995, 1130 non-fatal hunting accidents occured, and 112 people were killed. In 1996, 957 humans were wounded and 91 humans were killed by hunters. Ted Nugent claims to kill every domestic cat that he sees, and you may read about his animal-killing insanity on my Antihunting Resource Site.Notice the way that hunters are characterized. Does it describe you?
Pet owners who live near hunting areas may find their beloved pets dead or missing. Hunters typically hate predators - especially coyotes - but they also hate any number of animals based on arbitrary notions of what constitutes a "good" animal as opposed to a "bad" animal. This type of thinking opens up a whole can of worms. Stray cats and dogs - because they're feral - are perceived as fair game to some people. We'll never know how many domesticated animals have been shot by hunters; there is no record keeping on this matter.
From an ethical standpoint, hunting is very unimpressive. The hunting community is mainly composed of grown men (and some women) with nothing more intelligent to do than kill little birds and animals because it provides fun and excitement for people who need to feel potent. No matter how abysmally cruel or wasteful hunting is, it will always be defended by the hunting community.
Hunters fancy themselves as part of a natural cycle. Of course they are part of the cycle that kills and destroys, not the part that gives life or protects. The hunter only wants to be the hunting part of the cycle; even when stalking those relatively few species of animal capable of utilizing a human as prey, the sportsman is careful to overwhelmingly stack the deck in his favor through access to various forms of trickery augmented by heavy firepower.
But no less important to the sportsman than his high-tech killing toys is his (or her, but more often it's men who are sport hunters) unquestioned faith in a complex, shimmering, and fragile fabrication of myth, half-truths, self-delusion, and denials.
It may very well be a dog-eat-dog world out there, but at Howard Payne University this week, it was a bird-eat-bird world as hawks were released to thin the flocks upon flocks of grackles roosting in trees, littering sidewalks and just being a general nuisance.Jack Brady, of Got Birds?, a bird abatement company from Stephenville, brought two Harris's hawks -- Rocky and Woody -- and one Cooper's hawk -- Morticia -- to the HPU campus Thursday night to do what they do best: hunt other animals.
So your falconers out there looking for something to do read the rest here. Get your birds out night hawking, and who knows where it will take you.
igeon. Don't get me wrong, I like pigeons. They are cool little birds. I have some homers in my loft out back. We just had two more hatch the other day. (I have pigeons coming out my ears, but those darn Harris' can't figure out the process).The people blamed for these crimes are egg collectors (A hobby I completely don't understand), as well as pigeon fanciers. They also mention falconer's. I don't know about how falconer's in the U.K. feel about the illegal seizing of raptors, but I tend to discount falconers as possible subjects, just because I know how we feel here in the states.THIS year has been one of the worst on record for the persecution of peregrine falcons, conservationists said yesterday.The RSPB called on the government to add peregrines to the list of species being prioritised in efforts to tackle wildlife crime, after dozens of reports of the birds being poisoned, trapped and shot, and chicks being taken from nests.
Now don't get me wrong. There have been some inadvertent kills made by my hawks, but I try to minimize those. I remember one year when I had a red tail that caught a bat. I quickly got it away from him and released it. I don't know if the bat made it, but I did my best toSome of his new friends were millionaires, others bore gang tattoos. They all had a passion for roller pigeons, birds specially bred for a genetic disorder that causes them to have seizures and somersault backwards uncontrollably as they fly. Hobbyists compete to see who can make their flocks roll in unison most effectively.
What the pigeon men also had in common was a hatred for hawks and falcons, birds
Mr. Newcomer listened to tales of pigeon lovers spraying hawks’ eyes and beaks with a mixture of bleach and ammonia, creating a lethal gas. Another claimed he beat hawks to death with sticks. Another bragged about a five-gallon bucket full of talons he collected as trophies from his kills.for whom the tumbling pigeons make attractive prey. So protective were these men of their pet pigeons, that Mr. Newcomer saw some of them trap and shoot birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
for the little mammel.An undercover investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has revealed that a pigeon breeder's club in California, Oregon, and other states has been killing thousands of hawks and falcons a year in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act -- and bragging about it.
Members of the group, called the National Birmingham Roller Club, keep a specially bred pigeon that they believe deserves protection because it is easy prey for hawks and falcons. According to the club, the roller "distinguishes itself by its ability to 'roll,' or summersault backwards in rapid, tight rotations" in flight. The action makes the pigeon appear sick or weak.
Club members trap birds of prey in large box-like structures with walls of wire mesh. Then they shoot or torture them to death.
k, and minimizing that risk. Falconers use telemetry to keep track of their birds. We don't fly near dangerous power lines, or highways. We fly birds that are strong and healthy, and we avoid eagles as much as possible. But we realize that there are risks in what we do. Just like the terrierman knows that skunks and snakes can kill, and the beagle hunter knows that coyotes are out there, pigeon people need to know that there are dangers. Flying a bird includes the assumption that something may happen to it.
Federal authorities charged seven Southern California men associated with "roller pigeon clubs on charges related to the fatal beatings and shootings of federally protected raptors.
The seven cases in Southern California, along with charges filed against defendants in Oregon and Texas, are part of a 14-month investigation by special agents with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. In California, a special agent infiltrated several roller pigeon clubs and learned about members' efforts to trap and kill raptors, specifically Cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks and Peregrine falcons, according to court documents.
ONE of London's oldest street markets is being patrolled by a trained hawk in an attempt to rid it of pigeons.
Islington council chiefs came up with the idea after traders and customers complained about the birds, commonly regarded as vermin, plaguing the area around Whitecross Street.
They were attracted from their nests in nearby roads by the thriving food market - held on Thursdays and Fridays. Hazel the Harris hawk, pictured with handler Karl Robertson, is now brought in twice a week and supervised by a handler.
"This is the first book to bring together a body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults."
