Finding sharp-shinned hawk nests can be difficult. this video shares some tips on how to read the forest and hone in on the best regions to look for sharp-shin nests
Bob, Great videos. I’m surrounded by Barred owls and Red Shouldered hawks every spring in my woods, love it. What information or experience do you have on training Red Shouldered Hawks? Barry
I love your videos. I was wondering if there are any laws regulating falconry for fishing. I believe bald eagles usually hunt fish, and I know there are plenty of others that do as well, so is it ever practiced to fish with falconry birds, or is it even legal?
I'd be surprised if nobody had ever used a raptor to catch fish, but it's not done in the US. Bald eagles are not legal for falconry, but ospreys might be able to do the job. I don't know if any states allow their use though - again, it's definitely not the norm. You'd have a neat job training the thing to carry the fish to shore but not just fly up in a tree, eat, and take a nap.
Hey Ben, In one of your videos on aggression, you talk about hawks becoming either food aggressive on the glove, or worse, territorial on the glove. My question relates specifically to a passage coopers. Can too much manning on the glove( with zero food association on glove) cause some level of territorial aggression? Not sure if that question makes sense. Let's say you go through a season and are intermewing a coopers. To keep it tame, you let it ride the fist a couple hours a day over the summer. Have you seen this lead to problems?
Viral Vids Repository yes the question makes sense. I have never encountered this to be a problem. Anything is possible and you are wise to anticipate potential problems like you have with this scenario, but if food isn’t involved, there is not nearly as much possibility of aggression developing, and your glove just becomes a reliable safe perch.
I am seeking a number of Raptors in Arizona about an hour West of Phoenix South of Lake Pleasant. I am seeking all forms of Critters (animals), especially my beloved Raptors. I wish to both see and photograph them. I can not wander for hoours due to back injury so limiting my search helps. I am looking for Golden Eagle, Burrowing Owl, Peregrine, Sharp Shinned, Merlin, Common Black hawk, Red Shoulder, Gray, Swainson's, Zone Tail, Ferruginous, Praire Falcon, Northern Goshawk, Broadwing, Rough legged, Red Tail. I just watched the above video and not sure what area will have them but will check maps to see if I can find anything around here. If you could help with any of the rest would be great. We have plenty of Harris around town, and some Kestrels as well. Even had a Cooper's hawk twice visit our feeders in back yard this year. Ben, would be nice or anyone else have suggestions. I will check back here once in awhile. I also just subscribed to get personal notifications. Thanks, Michael
Hi Ben, I recently took up a goshawk, and im having trouble getting him to trust my hand moving around him. I can touch feet but he gets defensive when moving my hand around or level with his face. My goal is to let him accept me putting a transmitter on him. Any advice? Thanks
JustJess slow and consistent is the best route. Even though it advise against feeding on the fist, a small amount of feeding on the fist for 2-4 days will definitely build trust and can speed up what you are trying to accomplish, just remember to not continue feeding on the fist after you have achieved the trust you are hoping for. But again even without this, just go extremely slow and hold your hand in one place at the point of fear so the gos can acclimate to your hand being there.
What do you think the best time of year and/or stage of the nesting season is best to get results from a call tape is? Could calling to early be disruptive to them?
The closer they get to hatching/older the hatched young get, the more of a response to the goshawk tape you will get. Accipiters are fairly resilient with their nests. If you are just walking through a forest with a gos call and not climbing the nest early, I don’t thing you would have a problem with disrupting the nesting cycle. I usually look for gos and coops nests with call tapes when they are still on eggs, and have never had it disrupt their nesting behavior. I would think sharpies would be the same. As for me personally, I usually end up looking for them around the time the babies are hatching.
Really want to see a video talking about what is called beginner raptor such as rth kestrel or Harris‘s since I do not quite understand why my State ask falconers to get a wild rth or kestrel first while a lot of people suggest Harris which is also easier to get a captive.
The reason why they want apprentices to fly kestrels and red tailed hawks is because they are the most plentiful raptors on the continent. If we screw up and kill the thing, it won't hurt the population in any way. In all honesty, it's unlikely an apprentice is going to kill a bird, and in most cases, the raptor population is more than sufficient to allow apprentices to take any species they'd like, but the entire system is very conservative in both the "trying new things" and the "conservation" senses.
“Stealing” denotes the concept of property, which is a human construct. Not a natural one. Hawks raise their young to a certain age and protect them as the carriers of their genes. But after a month or two of raising them, as soon as those babies leave they become competitors. The parents will compete with, chase off, and even kill their own offspring after that time. So at no point do the parents think of their young as property. But as far as pulling a baby, I did not know that about Canada. A few years back I knew some provinces had a wild take of passage birds and some did not. But I never knew any policies of juvenile birds. So thank you for posting the info. I am more informed now. Always love learning more. In the USA our wild take is EXTREMELY a highly regulated. Which species, what age, and how many years experience you have to have as a falconer before you are allowed to pull a juvenile bird. Every region of the world is so different. But again in the USA, it practically takes an act of Congress to get into falconry.
