#falcon

Clint: THE FLOOR IS LAVA!
Rhodey: [helps Tony onto the counter]
Loki: [pushes Thor off the sofa]
Natasha: [to Sam] As you can see, there are two types of siblings.

Steve: Natasha and Sam are drunk and trying to play matchmaker with us again… Should I remind them that we’re married?

Tony: No, it’s more fun this way.

Steve: Tony told me that he got Bucky a box of toys for his birthday… I don’t really understand why he’d get a grown adult toys tho.

Clint: I’m going to tell him.

Sam: Don’t you dare.

Me over here waiting for a new avengers movie featuring the new team of avengers that includes Peter Parker, Kate Bishop, Yelena Belova, America Chavez, all lead by Sam and Bucky. Like can you imagine? What a chaotic group

2013/07/14

There’s something that not many people know about me. It’s a dark and difficult secret, but you are my loyal (I hope) followers, and for your sake, the truth must come out.

I am a falconer. Or, I’m working on becoming one. I make my living in the summer hanging out with and helping to care for birds of prey. I’m sorry to have to break it to you that my job is so awesome.

Lucy, one of my “co-workers”.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “how did someone like you / someone so young get into this sort of thing?” and I always begin by explaining that I am an absolute freak for animals. I can watch a rabbit eat grass and do boring rabbit crap for three hours and it will be the greatest event of my week.

The first thing you must have before you even think about approaching falconry is an unshakable love and respect for every animal’s boundaries and idiosyncrasies. My mother, who remains to be the only other person I have met who gets the same joy out of simply observing animals, taught me how to honor and connect with animals an early age. Don’t approach a strange dog too quickly. Never get between a mother bear and her cubs. When approaching any animal, keep your stance low and your voice soft. Wait for them to come to you. In this era of captive-bred everything, habitat loss and nature deficit disorder, I feel really fortunate to have had those teachings passed on to me.

Nobody may sit higher than the Queen.

As for how I got into falconry itself, I was given the opportunity by Kim and Karen Kamstra, experienced falconers, educators, and owners of Raptors Ridge Birds of Prey.

The summer before I entered Grade 12, they made a deal with the Capilano Suspension Bridge to come every day from Father’s Day to Labour Day and give people a chance to see raptors up close.

Karen and Sedona, a juvenile female Harris Hawk.

Naturally, I spent a lot of time finding ways to shirk my responsibilities as a nature guide and hang out with Kim and Karen and whichever birds they had with them that day. The next summer, as I leaned against the fence in my dorky uniform, Karen turned to me and said “Want a bird?”, indicating the tiny Kestrel perched atop her gloved hand. It’s impossible to forget how I felt right at that moment, feeling my heartbeat whooshing at the back of my mouth as I slipped the glove on and felt Little Dude’s willow-thin toes wrap around my index finger. I was afraid to move. Even though he was so tiny, the confidence in his grip and his beetle-black gaze held me in total rapture. Woman became perch.

Turns out I was good at it; In subsequent summers my duties went from simply sitting with the birds while Kim or Karen took a much-deserved coffee break to helping with difficult duties such as coping (trimming and shaping of beaks) or replacing equipment and eventually to assisting at events and holding down the fort when emergencies arose.

Conversing with Rusty, our wild rescue Red-Tailed Hawk.

In each installment of Sweaty Gauntlet, I will be covering the day-to-day joy and chaos of working in falconry, telling stories, and sharing info on how we can give these beautiful animals the help that they need so we can continue to be awed by them.

Sam: I hate you with every inch of my body

Bucky: that’s not a lot of inches