June 5, 2008

DUCK

A young Harris Hawk named Duck, made us … well, duck, during a falconry demonstration on our ‘research’ weekend at the ‘Becoming an Outdoorswoman’ camp at Lake Cowichan, Vancouver Island.

I’m going to have to write Duck’s handler into a romance novel one day — she’s pure heroine inspiration — beautiful, vivacious, handles a crowd with charm, wit and ease, and has a fierce passion for her birds. She also clearly marches to her own drum. And in that bag strapped around her hips are handfuls of soft, fluffy day-old chicks — the reason young Duck keeps swooping back on demand. He’d eaten about three at this point.

Duck, however, still has trouble hunting rabbit. Below, we are shown how he is trained. By a fake lure dragged over the grass. He swooped down out the evening sky, and … stopped just short. A little afraid, still. In no time, he’ll apparently be chasing down hare on his own.

Guess everyone has to start somewhere …

Posted by Loreth @ 6:22 pm | MANHUNTER, RESEARCH, THE WRITING LIFE

12 Responses to “DUCK”

On June 5th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
spyscribbler Says:

Baby chicks? You mean, cutey, furry, yellow, little baby chicks?

Man, that breaks my heart.

Hawks fascinated me until now, LOL.
On June 5th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Loreth Says:

I know, I know — but they were dead before they went into her hip bag, and they apparently died naturally. I should have mentioned that. The chicks are donated by hatcheries where — I am given to understand — many don’t survive beyond a day.

That said, these guys are predators. The wilds can be a harsh place. It was an interesting trip for sure. And the course participants at the camp were all basically pro hunting. That’s why many were there in the first place — to learn to shoot, clean and cook things in the wild. They felt nary a qualm for the baby chicks.
On June 5th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Loreth Says:

PS — I didn’t know about ‘applied falconry’ until that weekend, either — where you train birds of prey to kill vermin (like mice) in vineyards etc, instead of poison.
On June 6th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Meretta Says:

Interesting applied falconry. That’s a great concept as an alternative to poison!
On June 6th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Minna Says:

Yep, wild sure can be a harsh place. Our poor swans have been crying for hours, now. A raccoon dog came and destroyed all their chicks and eggs.
On June 6th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Toni Anderson Says:

I love birds of prey. I love getting close. And wouldn’t it be great to control mice with these beauties. I watched a Blue Jay in my garden last year killing a mouse. It was ferocious and the mouse took a long time to die. Natural is cruel, but those beaks and talons make shorter work of killing I think–at least, once they get the hang of it :/
On June 7th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Loreth Says:

Minna — that’s so sad :(.

What is a raccoon dog, by the way. Is it what you call a raccoon over there? I didn’t know there were in raccoons in Northern Europe.

I’m now haunted by the idea of what a crying swan might sound like …..
On June 7th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
spyscribbler Says:

Aww, that definitely makes it more palatable. I didn’t know about applied falconry. That sounds like a fantastic alternative.

A Blue Jay killed a mouse? You mean the little robin-sized Blue Jay? I had no idea they were predators!
On June 7th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Minna Says:

No raccoons around here. Well, looking at it’s face, it’s easy to understand why it’s called raccoon dog in English:
http://images.google.fi/images?source=ig&hl=fi&rlz=1G1GGLQ_FIFI261&q=supikoira%20raccoon%20dog&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
On June 8th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Minna Says:

But there are raccoons in other parts of Europe, brought by humans, of course. We do have Canadian beavers here though.

The swans cries made me wanna cry, too. They sounded so sad. And I could hear them even when I was inside. The pond where they were is very close to my home.
On June 8th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Loreth Says:

Minna — I had NO idea this animal existed. It totally looks like a raccoon. Wow — we never stop learning. Thank you for the links!! Did the ones in your area migrate down from Siberia, perhaps?
On June 8th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Minna Says:

It comes from East Asia, from there it was brought to Soviet Union and from there it spread here.

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SEDUCING THE MERCENRY earns Cata award