Eight years ago I was just 16 years old and got my very first bird, a four years old Lannerfalcon. I think she was the perfect beginners bird for me an I still fly her to the lure from time to time. I fully share your opinion and love to the lanners :) Thank you for your great videos!
Ben, I'd be happy to get you some lanner footage. My bird is reverse molting right now, and I don't have much prepared but I'll do anything I can do to get that lanner video out!
Looking forward to the Lanner falcon video. Deep dive species content, like the long Red Shouldered Hawk video, has been my favorite as a non-falconer. Sorry to hear you had a rough 2023, but glad to see that you are still able to continue posting the educational content for those of us interested in learning more about these amazing birds!
Ben, love your videos, always educational. Didn't know how else to contact you, so I'll ask here. What are the chances of a 65-year-old retiree finding a falconry sponsor in Utah. I'll be retiring in one year. Thanks. Larry.
You are kinda wrong about lanners being ancestral to all other falcons, that was a long time ago. A study done in 2004 found a copy of the cytochrome B gene known as a Numt and they found that it was widespread among falcons.
Are meat rabbits an option to feed falconry birds? I've heard it's a very lean meat and wondered if for that reason it couldn't serve as the main staple of falconry bird's diet. _Maybe falconry feeding options could be a the topic of a video? If you've already covered that topic maybe you might consider revisiting it in a new video?_
Sounds like a exciting year ! The different species are like a banquet of raptors. You mentioned agreeableness - how about a future video on the agreeableness of owl species - is it possible ? Someone has a Great Grey ( in a different country ) that seems shockingly tamer compared to her other species . Great video .
If taken as chicks before they can see (very young), owls become imprinted on humans and are VERY tame. AKA “bombproof”. Many small owls are almost tame in the wild. Adult great horned owls are hard to tame, but young GHO’s taken before they can see will imprint on a human and be incredibly VERY tame.
Howdy Ben! Ive got a question i dont really see to be brought up really ever but...can you hood a vulture (theoretically)? Ive been thinking about it quite a bit recently 🤔
Good question. Old world vultures are FAR more closely related to hawks and eagles and sea eagles than new world vultures are. As new world vultures are actually closely related to storks. So the mental wiring of old world vultures is more geared towards hooding and would likely work just fine. The one problem though is that most hoods utilize the raptors hackle feathers to make a gentle snug fit without being too tight. They sort of compress the hackles and back head feathers and make some cushion for the hood. Without that it would be difficult to safely make the hood fit. But this could be countered perhaps by having some fur lining the back areas of the hood. I did try for curiosities sake to make a hood for a turkey vulture I had years ago. I managed to make a hood fit properly, but his response was much like a chicken or a pheasant and he would just sort of lay there. But again.... a new world species. So I would think hooding old world vultures would be completely worthy of trying. And new world vultures would be fun for some more experimentation, but I wouldn't hold out much hope that it would be a functional tool with new world vultures.
@benwoodrufffalconry Interesting! Thanks for the feedback, I love turkey vultures, they're so amazing! I hope you and your taita (Rahara I believe?) Have an excellent time together! That turkey vultures response was much like my cat, Elentori, when we put a harness on her. She just sits!
Lanner are my favourite too. I just can't get them to take rooks. All the ones I've flown here in rhe UK have not been a very good size. So I'm flying a Peregrine and a Gyr hybrid
I’ve read somewhere that passage lanners are great hunters and some falconers in South Africa prefer passage lanners over peregrines for hunting. Hacking a lanner could make a big difference. My first Brittany dog was “hacked”. Got loose and ran around with its brother for a month hunting whatever before returning home. That dog could hunt !
Absolutely. Easiest bird to do in that scenario would be a kestrel or a Merlin. While living in an apartment I kept quite a range of raptors. But kestrels and Merlins warm up to the scenario very well.
I've your chill educational style Ben!! 👍😎🌟
I would love to see a video about hacking no matter how long it is. Not much out there about the subject and is a very interesting one in my eyes.
Eight years ago I was just 16 years old and got my very first bird, a four years old Lannerfalcon. I think she was the perfect beginners bird for me an I still fly her to the lure from time to time. I fully share your opinion and love to the lanners :)
Thank you for your great videos!
Love to watch and listen to your presentations!! Thank you for sharing!!👏👏❤
Ben, I'd be happy to get you some lanner footage. My bird is reverse molting right now, and I don't have much prepared but I'll do anything I can do to get that lanner video out!
Looking forward to the Lanner falcon video. Deep dive species content, like the long Red Shouldered Hawk video, has been my favorite as a non-falconer. Sorry to hear you had a rough 2023, but glad to see that you are still able to continue posting the educational content for those of us interested in learning more about these amazing birds!
Taita falcon -- Boom and zoom!
Cool comparison! I love both :) also I didn’t know lanners were the “ancestral falcon”, I’d love to know more about the phylogeny of falcons!
I’m assuming you have Giovanni Leonardi’s book, The Lanner Falcon. Great detailed reference.
I do. It has been a wonderful read
Agree!
I would love to see your taita falcon in the field. When do you expect to get him out there
Ben, love your videos, always educational. Didn't know how else to contact you, so I'll ask here. What are the chances of a 65-year-old retiree finding a falconry sponsor in Utah. I'll be retiring in one year. Thanks. Larry.
im flying a barbary tiercel this year, coild you compare It with de taita? It would be amazing!
Always watch about lanners I have 1 my self second year in with her beautiful bird can't wait to see more from u
You are kinda wrong about lanners being ancestral to all other falcons, that was a long time ago. A study done in 2004 found a copy of the cytochrome B gene known as a Numt and they found that it was widespread among falcons.
👍🏻
Are meat rabbits an option to feed falconry birds? I've heard it's a very lean meat and wondered if for that reason it couldn't serve as the main staple of falconry bird's diet.
_Maybe falconry feeding options could be a the topic of a video? If you've already covered that topic maybe you might consider revisiting it in a new video?_
Sounds like a exciting year ! The different species are like a banquet of raptors. You mentioned agreeableness - how about a future video on the agreeableness of owl species - is it possible ? Someone has a Great Grey ( in a different country ) that seems shockingly tamer compared to her other species . Great video .
If taken as chicks before they can see (very young), owls become imprinted on humans and are VERY tame. AKA “bombproof”. Many small owls are almost tame in the wild. Adult great horned owls are hard to tame, but young GHO’s taken before they can see will imprint on a human and be incredibly VERY tame.
Howdy Ben! Ive got a question i dont really see to be brought up really ever but...can you hood a vulture (theoretically)? Ive been thinking about it quite a bit recently 🤔
Good question. Old world vultures are FAR more closely related to hawks and eagles and sea eagles than new world vultures are. As new world vultures are actually closely related to storks. So the mental wiring of old world vultures is more geared towards hooding and would likely work just fine. The one problem though is that most hoods utilize the raptors hackle feathers to make a gentle snug fit without being too tight. They sort of compress the hackles and back head feathers and make some cushion for the hood. Without that it would be difficult to safely make the hood fit. But this could be countered perhaps by having some fur lining the back areas of the hood. I did try for curiosities sake to make a hood for a turkey vulture I had years ago. I managed to make a hood fit properly, but his response was much like a chicken or a pheasant and he would just sort of lay there. But again.... a new world species. So I would think hooding old world vultures would be completely worthy of trying. And new world vultures would be fun for some more experimentation, but I wouldn't hold out much hope that it would be a functional tool with new world vultures.
@benwoodrufffalconry Interesting! Thanks for the feedback, I love turkey vultures, they're so amazing! I hope you and your taita (Rahara I believe?) Have an excellent time together!
That turkey vultures response was much like my cat, Elentori, when we put a harness on her. She just sits!
Lanner are my favourite too. I just can't get them to take rooks. All the ones I've flown here in rhe UK have not been a very good size. So I'm flying a Peregrine and a Gyr hybrid
I’ve read somewhere that passage lanners are great hunters and some falconers in South Africa prefer passage lanners over peregrines for hunting. Hacking a lanner could make a big difference.
My first Brittany dog was “hacked”. Got loose and ran around with its brother for a
month hunting whatever before returning home.
That dog could hunt !
I don't know if it's a stupid question, but here I go ... Is it possible to get into falconry if you're living in an apartment ?
Absolutely. Easiest bird to do in that scenario would be a kestrel or a Merlin. While living in an apartment I kept quite a range of raptors. But kestrels and Merlins warm up to the scenario very well.
Thanks for your quick answer glad to have found your channel