Yes, I work with them in some capacity every day. While they are or were
molting they don't fly, just sit around and be lazy but I do feed them on the
fist. That keeps them in the habit of knowing that I provide food. During that
time they have to be *fat* so they grow strong healthy feathers. Now that
Levi's molt has finished, I've been gradually reducing his weight until he gets
a sharp appetite at the same time each day. He will then respond to his
training and I then take him out to large open fields , let him go and fly. I
put a kite up with a lure hanging from it and he flies up to get it for the
reward. Today he went up about 500 feet and by the end of the month he should
be going up about 1500 ft. Then we'll go for ducks! He'll fly up several
hundred feet over a pond with wild ducks and Sophie , my dog, will rush the
pond and scare the ducks out of the water and the falcon then goes into a
*stoop*, a dive, sometimes reaching over 250 miles an
hour and hits the duck.
On Monday, October 13, 2014 7:36 PM, "Share Long sharelon...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Mike, it's fascinating, a world with which I'm not at all familiar, so lots of
questions. Do you work with them every day? Are there competitions? Will you
breed them at some point? Tell all! I look forward to reading in the morning.
On Monday, October 13, 2014 9:05 PM, "Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Sandy will look just like Levi in two or three more months. She was in her
immature plumage at thetime of the photo and started molting since. By the end
of the year she will have her *big girl* feathers in. Of course , the females
in raptors are about 50% bigger than males. Levi weighs about 22 oz's and Sandy
about 33 oz's. As soon as Sandy grows in a few more new feathers, I'll start
getting her in shape for the fall. I'll send her up to a lure on a kite,
raising it higher and higher every few days until she climbs about 1500 feet at
a time. They absolutely love it!
On Monday, October 13, 2014 6:49 PM, "Share Long sharelon...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Whoops, sorry, Mike, I skimmed the words and got focused on the pictures. The
male is an amazing blue color. Krishna of the falcons (-:
On Monday, October 13, 2014 8:43 PM, "Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Yes, the male(color Photo) is Levi and the female (sepia photo) is Sandy.
On Monday, October 13, 2014 6:37 PM, "Share Long sharelon...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Mike, they are beautiful creatures. And the male has quite a steely gaze. Can
you say what their names are?
On Monday, October 13, 2014 8:19 PM, "Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
[Yahoo - login from Mike Dixon included below]
Levi is the first one, a male Anatum Peregrine, bred in captivity. Number two
is Sandy, a Female Tundra Peregrine caught on a Texas beach a year ago
tomorrow.
On Monday, October 13, 2014 6:14 PM, mdixon.6569 <mdixon.6...@yahoo.com> wrote:
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There are competitions but I've never entered any. I might give one a try in
February.< As for breeding, Wild caught Peregrines like Sandy are not known for
breeding in captivity,
although you never know. She has tried to kill him twice! I have to keep them
separated. However, hormones in the Spring could change her attitude. She could
also take off and go her own merry way any time I fly her. So far, she hasn't
done that. Right now , I think she realizes that she has an easy life.< If I
want to use Levi in a breeding program, I'd probably have to get a female bred
in captivity as he was. That seems to work out well, I'm told.
I think it would be cool to breed them and release them, or some of them, into
the wild. Falconers have been doing this since the seventies and returned them
to a healthy population from once being nearly extinct. They were taken off of
the endangered species list in the late nineties. DDT had all but wiped them
out by the sixties. Tundra Peregrine numbers have since returned to pre-DDT
levels and Anatum Peregrine numbers are much stronger but not as much as could
be.
