>>wow thats impressive is that your job or a hobby?

>>

>>ive allways wanted to get into falconry but never had a good chance where i had the time to devote but ive promised myself many many many times that is one thing i will do





Mostly it's part of the job. I work at a nature center and we have several hawks and owls and a bald eagle. Sometimes we get birds that eventually are releasable, but mostly birds we get are not releasable and are used for educational programs. We actually had a red-tail that had been deemed unreleasable (due to amputation of two talons on one foot) until a situation occurred about a year later that made us and our vet re-evaluate his condition (he caught a wild chipmunk in his cage as it was zipping through the fence lol). Ultimately we sent him out to a specialized raptor rehab center in another state that worked with him to give their opinion on the matter. They deemed him able to successfully hunt despite his missing talons so he went through special training to re-condition him to be able to hunt and survive again in the wild. Once he finished flight and hunting school, he was brought back here, banded and successfully released last fall at a nearby protected park area.





As for falconry.. that is so not a hobby to take lightly. You have to apprentice for up to two years minimum and the guidelines to follow...whew... and people thought reptile regulations were tough lol. I like what I do.. I get the fun of playing with birds and doing a lot of things falconers do, but none of the pressures or time factors that falconers have to deal with.

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