Falconry Blogs

Falconry is the ancient art of training raptors (hawks and falcons) for sport. The "sport" involves training the birds to fly from the hand in pursuit of their natural prey. In the United States, falconers and the sport of falconry is rigidly controlled by regulations issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of falconry. Given the continued worldwide popularity of falconry, it’s not surprising that a "community" of bloggers is writing about the topic. Here’s a list of 23 such blogs I have encountered in the last couple of months (there are undoubtedly many more):

Abby (TX)

Accipitrarius Sordidatus

Another Falconry Blog (CO)

Aquiling (OK)

As the Falcon, Her Bells (OK)

Biggio (TX)

Bird Lovers 101 (GA)

Caveat Lepus (WA)

Dartmoor Hawking (Devon, UK)

Falcon Fever (Czech Republic)

Falconer on the Edge (NY)

Falconry in the Valley of the Mississippi (LA)

Flyover Country (NE)

Fretmarks

Harris’ Hawk Blog (NC)

Hawks and Hijinks (FL)

Iowafalconer’s Falconry Blog (IA)

Joe Atkinson’s Eagle Journal

Ladyhawker – On Sabbatical (WI)

Little Mews on the Prairie (OK)

My Adventures in Falconry (WA)

Nevada Falconry (NV)

Norfolk Falconry (Norfolk, UK)

Operation Delta Duck (CA)

Operation Desert Dove (CA)

Raptor Barn (ID)

Woodlands Falconry (County Carlow, Ireland)

Last revised: 4/5/09.

My top Heath Ledger photos

Here are my favorite Heath Ledger photos. Leave a comment and let us know yours...

Heath Ledger photos...

This picture speaks volumes...

More of Heath Ledger at male celebrities HERE

Nesting Habits of the Nautilus Duck

From the pages of Wicked Local comes this story by Mike O’Connor and the staff of the Bird Watcher’s General Store in Orleans, Massachusetts, about the bizarre nesting habits of the newly-discovered Nautilus Duck (Anas aquaticus), a close cousin of the common Mallard that is known to nest only on Cape Cod.

World Premier of Ghost Bird

Scott Crocker’s Ghost Bird, a documentary about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, will be celebrating its "official" World Premier at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Canada, in early May. Hot Docs is the largest festival of documentary films in North America.

Ghost Bird will be screened on May 6th and 8th as part of Hot Docs' World Showcase, "a popular global survey of the year’s best docs." If, by chance, you’re going to be in Toronto the first week of May you might want to reserve a seat now.

In related news, Birdchick wrote about her participation in a panel discussion that followed a screening of Ghost Bird at the San Diego Bird Festival in early March, and Steve Moore aired an interview with producer/director Scott Crocker on his BirdwatchRadio podcast of March 17, 2009 (download Program #19).

Designing Better Birding Trails: A Survey Request

Amy Hartell, a graduate student in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon is seeking the input of birders in developing better design guidelines for locating and building birding trails and tour routes. You can help by completing a simple online survey and submitting your responses no later than April 15.

The scope of the study and the survey is described more fully in Ms. Hartell’s request, as follows:

Dear Birding Enthusiasts,

I am a student in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon. Following is a link to a survey that is part of my unfunded Master's Project about how to better design birding trails and tour routes for everyone including people with disabilities. Data collected from this survey will be used to identify preferred birding experiences and how they may be provided for all kinds of birders and design for habitat conservation education. I am also seeking information on an important subgroup of birders, those with disabilities. The results of this survey will help me develop better design guidelines for locating and building birding trails and tours. Dan Gleason of the Oregon Field Ornithologists' suggested posting the survey may be a good way to reach birders everywhere.

Completing and returning the questionnaire constitutes your consent to participate. The survey does not ask for any personally identifying information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers. Responses will be completely anonymous; do not put your name anywhere on the survey. The survey is intended for anyone age 18 or older and considers themselves a birder. Completion of the survey will take 20-30 minutes.

To get started, simply follow this LINK TO THE SURVEY.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey to help with my studies.

THE SURVEY CLOSES 15 April 2009.

Sincerely,

Amy Hartell
ahartell AT uoregon.edu

Do your part to help improve birding trails and tour routes for future generations of bird enthusiasts. Take the survey right now, before you become distracted by other things.

One Incredibly Lucky Birder

From the New Jersey coast comes this incredible story of a lone birder who became trapped, upside-down and wedged between two 15-foot granite boulders, inside the jetty (!!) at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.

Jetties can be dangerous places for birders to venture onto, especially when birding alone. In this instance, the birder involved was fortunate that he lived to tell the tale. Solo ventures such as this sometimes have an unhappy ending.

I ran across this story at Ask the Birds, the blog of Bill Bossman, who presents his perspective on the event here.

Robert Buckley again this time shirtless

Here is the ever hot Robert Buckley again this time shirtless on court. He played Kirby Atwood in NBC TV series, Lipstick Jungle.

See this past post for more of Buckley shirtless HERE

Loving the look on the black woman's face...

More Robert Buckley at male celebrities HERE

Eye (and Ear) Candy for Birders

For one of the sexiest flash intros to a Web site ever, click on Life List, where you will be introduced to Olivia Gentile’s new book about birding legend Phoebe Snetsinger.

Many thanks to Gunnar Engblom for bringing this site to my attention.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Fraud

The long-playing Ivory-billed Woodpecker saga hit a new low today with the shocking revelation that a "mystery" photograph making the rounds of the Internet the past couple of months and widely discussed as possibly an actual Ivory-bill is, in reality, a forgery (see post by Bill Pulliam here and posts by Cyberthrush here and here).

Will this idiotic act prove to be a death knell to the quixotic search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker?

Male model Marco Dapper photographed by Adam Bouska,

Marco Dapper was born on the 9 July 1983. He is an American actor and Model, best known for staring in the film Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds.









































More of Marco Dapper at male celebrities HERE





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