Tag: gyrfalcon
The Three Rarest Bird Species I’ve Seen In Ten Years Of Bird Photography
It Took A Gyrfalcon To Bring Out The Birder In Me
I’ve said it many times, I’m a bird photographer not a traditional birder. But an incident earlier this year gave me a taste of the excitement birders must feel when they observe a rare species and have that sighting accepted by the birding community.
Gyrfalcon Along The Antelope Island Causeway
Yesterday was a day I won’t soon forget as I saw and photographed a Gyrfalcon here in Utah. The Utah Bird Records Committee has accepted only six previous records of Gyrfalcons in Utah and the most recent one was in 2001.
Escaped White Gyrfalcon – An Update
This is my promised update on the eventual outcome of the recent escaped white Gyrfalcon saga.
Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – White Gyrfalcon
Thursday afternoon a possible Snowy Owl was reported at Mick Riley Golf Course in Murray, Utah. In the end it turned out to be a spectacular white Gyrfalcon.
Falconry – A Detriment To The Birds?
As some of you will remember, I’ve recently made two posts calling into question some of the ethics of the “sport” (some don’t like that term) of falconry. This was the bird that prompted my most recent post – an “escaped” female Peregrine Falcon that I photographed along the Antelope Island causeway a few weeks ago. You’ll notice that she still has her leather falconry anklets above her feet (only one can be seen in this photo). And last year, this escaped male American Kestrel was loose near Farmington Bay WMA and it still had not only its anklets but its jesses. The extreme danger to the bird of having those long, dangling jesses engangle and kill the kestrel is obvious. In both posts I questioned the ethics of falconry in general, but admitting my relative ignorance of the subject I asked (on the second post) for more information from my readers to “enlighten” me on the subject. For those who haven’t seen those posts and have the interest, here’s the links: Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon, Again Mark Runnels, a master falconer from Oklahoma, responded to the second post with a series of very detailed, knowledgeable and thoughtful comments on falconry – responding to each of my concerns dispassionately and eloquently. However, that post was made on September 17 and Mark didn’t begin to comment until October 23, which means that his valuable information likely went under the radar for most of my readers (very few folks come back to a…
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The Three Rarest Bird Species I’ve Seen In Ten Years Of Bird Photography
It Took A Gyrfalcon To Bring Out The Birder In Me
I’ve said it many times, I’m a bird photographer not a traditional birder. But an incident earlier this year gave me a taste of the excitement birders must feel when they observe a rare species and have that sighting accepted by the birding community.
Gyrfalcon Along The Antelope Island Causeway
Yesterday was a day I won’t soon forget as I saw and photographed a Gyrfalcon here in Utah. The Utah Bird Records Committee has accepted only six previous records of Gyrfalcons in Utah and the most recent one was in 2001.
Escaped White Gyrfalcon – An Update
This is my promised update on the eventual outcome of the recent escaped white Gyrfalcon saga.
Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – White Gyrfalcon
Thursday afternoon a possible Snowy Owl was reported at Mick Riley Golf Course in Murray, Utah. In the end it turned out to be a spectacular white Gyrfalcon.
Falconry – A Detriment To The Birds?
As some of you will remember, I’ve recently made two posts calling into question some of the ethics of the “sport” (some don’t like that term) of falconry. This was the bird that prompted my most recent post – an “escaped” female Peregrine Falcon that I photographed along the Antelope Island causeway a few weeks ago. You’ll notice that she still has her leather falconry anklets above her feet (only one can be seen in this photo). And last year, this escaped male American Kestrel was loose near Farmington Bay WMA and it still had not only its anklets but its jesses. The extreme danger to the bird of having those long, dangling jesses engangle and kill the kestrel is obvious. In both posts I questioned the ethics of falconry in general, but admitting my relative ignorance of the subject I asked (on the second post) for more information from my readers to “enlighten” me on the subject. For those who haven’t seen those posts and have the interest, here’s the links: Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon, Again Mark Runnels, a master falconer from Oklahoma, responded to the second post with a series of very detailed, knowledgeable and thoughtful comments on falconry – responding to each of my concerns dispassionately and eloquently. However, that post was made on September 17 and Mark didn’t begin to comment until October 23, which means that his valuable information likely went under the radar for most of my readers (very few folks come back to a…