Saturday, January 31, 2009
Everybody's Fond of Owls...
So if you're wondering what the heck is up with my title...here is the video from which both the header and footer of this page are derived--but fair warning: The owls are cute but the video is random!
Well apparently birds are 'striking' aircraft now...
So I was reading this news story on yahoo, and could not stop laughing! After the plane crash into the Hudson river a couple weeks ago, NASA has been investigating how many 'birdstrikes' there have been on aircraft. The phrasing is actually 'birds striking' in some cases, as though these birds are specifically targeting plane's engines and windshields to get killed in!
The crazy thing is that the news story is acting as though this is something really new, or that it has been hidden from the public in some way...I don't know when I learned about birds flying into airplanes, but it was quite awhile ago, and I may have even deduced it myself--so this is perhaps an overreaction? After all, in the overwhelming majority of cases the only one to get hurt in these 'birdstrikes' is the bird itselfs. Perhaps these are the newest kind of suicide bombers?
The article is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_go_ot/airliners_birds
The crazy thing is that the news story is acting as though this is something really new, or that it has been hidden from the public in some way...I don't know when I learned about birds flying into airplanes, but it was quite awhile ago, and I may have even deduced it myself--so this is perhaps an overreaction? After all, in the overwhelming majority of cases the only one to get hurt in these 'birdstrikes' is the bird itselfs. Perhaps these are the newest kind of suicide bombers?
The article is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_go_ot/airliners_birds
Friday, January 30, 2009
Backposts--England
Okay, I just wanted to point out that I have back posted all of my e-mails that I sent while I was in England in 2006 :)
Africa #1--bumsters and toubabs
Okay, so what I really need is pictures to go along with these posts, but I'll have to wait to see if my sister took any ;)
So, whether this is good or bad, (and its probably bad) the first thing that jumps into my mind when I think of Africa, and African pictures, actually, is the presence of 'bumsters.' One of the most obvious things about being in Africa is the fact that you, as visitors, are different. And this difference is the color of your skin, so its not like you can fake it and blend in, really. This means that you are treated differently in a couple of ways...the first and most obvious is the fact that the Gambian peoples teach their children to yell 'toubab' at any passing white person. The good thing is that this word just means 'foreigner' and really doesn't seem to have a bad connotation to the Gambians. The bad thing is that it is very wierd to have people yell 'foreigner!' at you randomly. The only good thing was that this was mostly yelled by children, who are cute, so you can more easily ignore it/not get offended.
The second and more annoying thing that happens when you walk around with white skin on is that you seem to gravitationally attract the bumsters mentioned earlier. By bumsters I don't mean specifically dangerous or creepy people as the term would suggest here (although they are occassionally creepy) , but rather beggars and other people who want you to buy either goods or services. These bumsters magically appear pretty much everywhere you go, and if you don't want a random native person telling you where to go or what to do, you have to be very firm and occasionally rude to get rid of them. Some of them are okay and if you just politely say no they will leave you alone, but the majority of them don't leave you alone until you resort to rudeness or running away...and even then you have to run fast...
Considering these bumsters and their part in Gambian society: I would have to guess that the getting rid of them would be rather difficult. The problem is really an economic one (not very surprisingly, all the worst problems are). These people see all the rich tourists and feel that they have a right to some of their money. There is a limited number of ways to get tourists to buy things off of you, so the pushiest people usually sell the most of whatever they are selling. This basically means that anyone nice enough to leave when you tell them no don't actually sell enough stuff to make it economically feasible for them to keep selling to tourists. So they go back and take the more stable and limited financial possibilities of being a tailor or a maid, or somesuch.
So these supremely annoying bumsters are obviously a self-propelling problem, and the government doesn't really want to get rid of them since they probably do pull more money out of the tourists than they would spend normally. Which means that bumsters and toubabs (the bumsters target the toubabs, if I didn't make that clear) are probably the most defining thing of the Gambia--which is sad really, but economics are a powerful thing.
I don't know how economics explain the toubab thing though...
So, whether this is good or bad, (and its probably bad) the first thing that jumps into my mind when I think of Africa, and African pictures, actually, is the presence of 'bumsters.' One of the most obvious things about being in Africa is the fact that you, as visitors, are different. And this difference is the color of your skin, so its not like you can fake it and blend in, really. This means that you are treated differently in a couple of ways...the first and most obvious is the fact that the Gambian peoples teach their children to yell 'toubab' at any passing white person. The good thing is that this word just means 'foreigner' and really doesn't seem to have a bad connotation to the Gambians. The bad thing is that it is very wierd to have people yell 'foreigner!' at you randomly. The only good thing was that this was mostly yelled by children, who are cute, so you can more easily ignore it/not get offended.
The second and more annoying thing that happens when you walk around with white skin on is that you seem to gravitationally attract the bumsters mentioned earlier. By bumsters I don't mean specifically dangerous or creepy people as the term would suggest here (although they are occassionally creepy) , but rather beggars and other people who want you to buy either goods or services. These bumsters magically appear pretty much everywhere you go, and if you don't want a random native person telling you where to go or what to do, you have to be very firm and occasionally rude to get rid of them. Some of them are okay and if you just politely say no they will leave you alone, but the majority of them don't leave you alone until you resort to rudeness or running away...and even then you have to run fast...
Considering these bumsters and their part in Gambian society: I would have to guess that the getting rid of them would be rather difficult. The problem is really an economic one (not very surprisingly, all the worst problems are). These people see all the rich tourists and feel that they have a right to some of their money. There is a limited number of ways to get tourists to buy things off of you, so the pushiest people usually sell the most of whatever they are selling. This basically means that anyone nice enough to leave when you tell them no don't actually sell enough stuff to make it economically feasible for them to keep selling to tourists. So they go back and take the more stable and limited financial possibilities of being a tailor or a maid, or somesuch.
So these supremely annoying bumsters are obviously a self-propelling problem, and the government doesn't really want to get rid of them since they probably do pull more money out of the tourists than they would spend normally. Which means that bumsters and toubabs (the bumsters target the toubabs, if I didn't make that clear) are probably the most defining thing of the Gambia--which is sad really, but economics are a powerful thing.
I don't know how economics explain the toubab thing though...
Why do we love to sleep so much?
So I was taking an afternoon nap today, and my roommate woke me up to say that dinner was ready (she was making Runza casserole, it was delicious) and as I was trying to get my brain out of dream mode it occurred to me that there is a curious (and perhaps obvious) connection between the activities that we find enjoyable and the basic human needs that we all have...and that same connection goes further to embody at least three of the cardinal sins. Basically (haha), humans naturally want to eat, sleep, and have sex. These 3 activities are all needed to survive personally and/or for the survival of the species as a whole.
What's fascinating then is how we don't such do these activities out of some sort of biologically need (at least most of the time). I know for me its a daily struggle not to just keep eating because food is so enjoyable or two keep sleeping because of the feeling of relaxing so completely. And there are definitely people who cannot make it through a day without a sexual encounter of some kind.
On the other hand animals, at least the commonly termed 'wild' animals, do not seem to find this pleasure in the way we do. Domesticated animals do seem to find pleasure in food and sleep, but they do not take eating to the depths that we do, mostly because they have no method of cooking. There are animals (ex. Bonobos) who obviously find sex pleasurable, and even use it in their 'forgiveness' rituals, but that is definitely not very widespread.
So this human difference between some animal instinct for the good of our species and our enjoyment of these activities that apparently goes beyond what many animals experience seems to be why these activities all correspond to one of the seven 'deadly' sins. Realistically, that list is a bit strange since there is actually no reference in the bible to a list of 'deadly' sins. All of these sins are listed in the bible, in different areas of Proverbs and Galatians, but God never actually said that there are a limited number of 'deadly' sins or gave some sort of definitive list. It is my understanding that any sin no matter how apparently small is enough for you to need forgiveness for. However these 'deadly' sins translate to God's Word, three of the cardinal sins are lust, gluttony, and sloth. Obviously these God-given gifts, which he made more than just biological functions in us humans, are easy targets for the enemy to twist. And probably because of the biological basis for these sins, these are particularly hard to get out of. You cannot just abstain from sleep or food, especially, for more than short periods of time.
Whatever the connection, I will probably still love to sleep...and will also be happy that my roommate can still wake me up.
What's fascinating then is how we don't such do these activities out of some sort of biologically need (at least most of the time). I know for me its a daily struggle not to just keep eating because food is so enjoyable or two keep sleeping because of the feeling of relaxing so completely. And there are definitely people who cannot make it through a day without a sexual encounter of some kind.
On the other hand animals, at least the commonly termed 'wild' animals, do not seem to find this pleasure in the way we do. Domesticated animals do seem to find pleasure in food and sleep, but they do not take eating to the depths that we do, mostly because they have no method of cooking. There are animals (ex. Bonobos) who obviously find sex pleasurable, and even use it in their 'forgiveness' rituals, but that is definitely not very widespread.
So this human difference between some animal instinct for the good of our species and our enjoyment of these activities that apparently goes beyond what many animals experience seems to be why these activities all correspond to one of the seven 'deadly' sins. Realistically, that list is a bit strange since there is actually no reference in the bible to a list of 'deadly' sins. All of these sins are listed in the bible, in different areas of Proverbs and Galatians, but God never actually said that there are a limited number of 'deadly' sins or gave some sort of definitive list. It is my understanding that any sin no matter how apparently small is enough for you to need forgiveness for. However these 'deadly' sins translate to God's Word, three of the cardinal sins are lust, gluttony, and sloth. Obviously these God-given gifts, which he made more than just biological functions in us humans, are easy targets for the enemy to twist. And probably because of the biological basis for these sins, these are particularly hard to get out of. You cannot just abstain from sleep or food, especially, for more than short periods of time.
Whatever the connection, I will probably still love to sleep...and will also be happy that my roommate can still wake me up.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
North Yorkshire #6--When the unusual happens...
Hi everybody!
So, I'm sorry it's been about a month since i last e-mailed. I knew that would happen. Anyways, this e-mail is on the subject of what I've had to deal with when the birds act up. It includes escapees, birds catching animals when they're not supposed to, and birds just plain being a nuisance.
My first experience with an annoying bird was on my second day here when I had to sit with a bird that was still in training. This is called 'manning' a bird, and just means that you have the bird tied to your glove and you sit with it for 45 min or and hour to get it used to sitting on the glove. This bird is now flying free when we exercise him, so he's progressed a LOT, but It was quite annoying that first day when he was still jumping off my hand almost non-stop.
The next day, we had a bird escape. Birds very rarely actually escape. This was the first one for the year. It was a 4 month old falcon who was still in training. He just totally ignored the lure with the food on it, and flew off. That day was rather boring for me, since i was mostly just inside the center with not much to do, and no sociable people around. We got the falcon back after chasing him for about 7 hours. Needless to say, most everyone was in a rather bad mood by the end of it.
Then, the Sunday after the falcon escaped, we lost another bird. As i said before, this is normally a rare occurence, so it was really bad to lose two in one week. What was funny with this bird (A Turkemanian Eagle Owl named Cleo) was that she flew off during a demonstration. Demo birds are some of the most trusted birds we have. I wasn't there the day she flew off, but even i was surprised to hear that she had flown off. Cleo was also a bigger deal because she was gone for most of a week. She was also more dangerous because it was possible that she would try to attack the tethered birds if they were outside at night. So we had to bring them in every evening and back out every morning. She just randomly came back into the center about a week after she left. A couple of the more experienced falconers were able to get close enough to her to get her jesses. She's now back in the demos just fine, so we don't exactly know why she disappeared.
A couple of weeks ago I got permission to start taking Hawks out into the arboretum by myself. The first two i did went great, my only problem is that i tend to walk to quickly if I'm by myself, so i'm learning to pace myself. Then i had the experience of one of the Hawks (His name is Brian) going to hunt a pidgeon. Luckily, I had been out with more experienced people before when hawks had decided to hunt when they weren't supposed to, so i knew what I needed to do. It was just totally scary to see the hawk fly in the totally wrong direction. I didn't know my heart could beat that fast! Luckily this hawk is very well trained, and is more interested in the chick that i show him than the pidgeon that he caught, so i was able to pick him up w/o too much difficulty. He wouldn't let go of the pidgeon for quite awhile, though. While the experience shook me up a bit, i got through it fine, and was able to deal with the hawk. I don't especially like taking that hawk out anymore, though, b/c he caught another pidgeon the next time i was out with him.
Those are the more exciting stories i have. the other stuff that's happened is pretty small, like a hawk who tried to fly in the opposite direction to where i wanted him to go. I still don't know why b/c he was trying to fly TOWARDS machinery not away from it, and he didn't try to catch any animals or anything. He only came the right way when i called him down to food, so i just gave up on him for that day. Another time a bird did something weird was when an owl suddenly decided he didn't like me anymore. For the first month and a half that i was here this owl, Morris, flew for me quite well. He would fly a really long way for his food, and behaved really well around me. Then I tried to fly him a week ago, and he wouldn't fly even half the distance he did before. He just totally wouldn't fly for me, though he flew fine for the other girls who came to help. Apparently he just decided he didn't like me anymore. I do know that he's done this before, which is why he's being sold right now. He's rather a temperamental owl. Sophie had me feed him from the fist in his aviary to try to get him to associate me with the food. I don't know if it worked b/c i haven't flown him since.
So, those are my stories of the annoyances of birds who don't behave (in the more extreme cases: most of them are always being a bit annoying). Oh yeah, a piece of news: I'm now able to hood the falcons myself. yay! The skill of hooding takes longer to learn than other things that I've done. So, I can now get all the birds ready for the demonstrations by myself. I feel much more useful now that can help with a lot of things without needing someone watching over what I'm doing.
One last thing, If you would like me to send you an owl from England, I need to know within the week, because I'm leaving England next weekend. Make sure you give me your full address and everything.
~Nettie
So, I'm sorry it's been about a month since i last e-mailed. I knew that would happen. Anyways, this e-mail is on the subject of what I've had to deal with when the birds act up. It includes escapees, birds catching animals when they're not supposed to, and birds just plain being a nuisance.
My first experience with an annoying bird was on my second day here when I had to sit with a bird that was still in training. This is called 'manning' a bird, and just means that you have the bird tied to your glove and you sit with it for 45 min or and hour to get it used to sitting on the glove. This bird is now flying free when we exercise him, so he's progressed a LOT, but It was quite annoying that first day when he was still jumping off my hand almost non-stop.
The next day, we had a bird escape. Birds very rarely actually escape. This was the first one for the year. It was a 4 month old falcon who was still in training. He just totally ignored the lure with the food on it, and flew off. That day was rather boring for me, since i was mostly just inside the center with not much to do, and no sociable people around. We got the falcon back after chasing him for about 7 hours. Needless to say, most everyone was in a rather bad mood by the end of it.
Then, the Sunday after the falcon escaped, we lost another bird. As i said before, this is normally a rare occurence, so it was really bad to lose two in one week. What was funny with this bird (A Turkemanian Eagle Owl named Cleo) was that she flew off during a demonstration. Demo birds are some of the most trusted birds we have. I wasn't there the day she flew off, but even i was surprised to hear that she had flown off. Cleo was also a bigger deal because she was gone for most of a week. She was also more dangerous because it was possible that she would try to attack the tethered birds if they were outside at night. So we had to bring them in every evening and back out every morning. She just randomly came back into the center about a week after she left. A couple of the more experienced falconers were able to get close enough to her to get her jesses. She's now back in the demos just fine, so we don't exactly know why she disappeared.
A couple of weeks ago I got permission to start taking Hawks out into the arboretum by myself. The first two i did went great, my only problem is that i tend to walk to quickly if I'm by myself, so i'm learning to pace myself. Then i had the experience of one of the Hawks (His name is Brian) going to hunt a pidgeon. Luckily, I had been out with more experienced people before when hawks had decided to hunt when they weren't supposed to, so i knew what I needed to do. It was just totally scary to see the hawk fly in the totally wrong direction. I didn't know my heart could beat that fast! Luckily this hawk is very well trained, and is more interested in the chick that i show him than the pidgeon that he caught, so i was able to pick him up w/o too much difficulty. He wouldn't let go of the pidgeon for quite awhile, though. While the experience shook me up a bit, i got through it fine, and was able to deal with the hawk. I don't especially like taking that hawk out anymore, though, b/c he caught another pidgeon the next time i was out with him.
Those are the more exciting stories i have. the other stuff that's happened is pretty small, like a hawk who tried to fly in the opposite direction to where i wanted him to go. I still don't know why b/c he was trying to fly TOWARDS machinery not away from it, and he didn't try to catch any animals or anything. He only came the right way when i called him down to food, so i just gave up on him for that day. Another time a bird did something weird was when an owl suddenly decided he didn't like me anymore. For the first month and a half that i was here this owl, Morris, flew for me quite well. He would fly a really long way for his food, and behaved really well around me. Then I tried to fly him a week ago, and he wouldn't fly even half the distance he did before. He just totally wouldn't fly for me, though he flew fine for the other girls who came to help. Apparently he just decided he didn't like me anymore. I do know that he's done this before, which is why he's being sold right now. He's rather a temperamental owl. Sophie had me feed him from the fist in his aviary to try to get him to associate me with the food. I don't know if it worked b/c i haven't flown him since.
So, those are my stories of the annoyances of birds who don't behave (in the more extreme cases: most of them are always being a bit annoying). Oh yeah, a piece of news: I'm now able to hood the falcons myself. yay! The skill of hooding takes longer to learn than other things that I've done. So, I can now get all the birds ready for the demonstrations by myself. I feel much more useful now that can help with a lot of things without needing someone watching over what I'm doing.
One last thing, If you would like me to send you an owl from England, I need to know within the week, because I'm leaving England next weekend. Make sure you give me your full address and everything.
~Nettie
Thursday, October 5, 2006
North Yorkshire #5--My Days with the Birds
hi everyone!
Okay, so I'm really sorry that i haven't written in forever. I'm just getting over a cold which has made me basically do nothing but go to work, eat, and sleep for the last couple days.
Anyways, what should i write about...You know, it's really hard to think of good subjects for e-mails, since what you guys want to know is mostly everyday stuff. So, I will try to describe a 'normal' day at the falconry center.
But first, I will make a list of the people at the falconry center.
Tom Graham--the owner of Falcons of Thorp Perrow. He doesn't do a lot of the actual work with the birds anymore.
John--The second-in-command. He is basically the top person, since Tom's not always even at the Center. He's there six days a week
Sophie--Another experienced falconer. She's 16, but has been working there for 4 years. I like to tease her on how I have a driving license and she doesn't, because you can't get a license until you're 17 here.
David--Another full time volunteer like me. He's here 5 days a week.
Terry--Another experienced falconer. He's in 1 or 2 days a week.
Gary--Another experienced falconer, but still a volunteer I met him for the first time last Friday. He's in once a week, but he won't be here for the winter.
Holly--A volunteer 1 day a week. She's been here over a year, but is not especially far along since she's not here much.
Simon--A volunteer who's here on Friday's. He's really fun to talk to, though we've gotten into debates about the strangest things.
Jo--Terry's daughter. I haven't met her yet: she's just coming back from her seasonal job at Woburn Safari Park working with the birds of prey there. She's back on Saturday.
Onto my day at work...
My first alarm goes off at 7:30, my second at 7:40, and then I get up by 7:45. I get dressed, go downstairs, put on the kettle for a cup of tea or coffee (depending on if I'm feeling sick or not), and make my packed lunch. My lunch is usually some type of sandwich (cheese and hummus has been my favorite lately), a yogurt with fruit jelly to mix in, maybe an orange or a banana, and something for dessert (or 'pudding,' as it's called here). My ride comes to pick me up between 8:20 and 8:40.
We arrive at Thorp Perrow (the falconry center) between 8:40 and 9:00. The first thing we do when we arrive is put the kettle on for tea. btw, when I talk about the kettle its actually an electric kettle, so you don't boil water on the stove. It's kind of like using a coffee pot just to heat up water. While one person takes orders for and makes the drinks, the others will check all the aviary's to make sure all the birds are alive, take out any birds that were inside overnight (because of rain, et cetera), and prepare the food. As I've already described in one of the other e-mails, we yolk some of the chicks and pull legs off others. After these jobs are finished, we pause for some coffee/tea, and plan a little bit of what is happening later in the day.
Often we will take out the 3 young falcons that are being flown to the lure at this time of day. David and I bring the birds in to be weighed and readied to be flown. We help carry and hold the birds for one of the more experienced people to fly. This week we've been learning how to hood the falcons. Soon we won't need any help to get them ready. Sophie said that she will show me and David how to swing a lure sometime soon, but I won't be able to actually fly a falcon before I leave, because you really need to learn the timing of it with an inexperienced falcon that will get better at the same rate you will.
Anyways, after flying the falcons, or instead of flying the falcons, depending on the number of people working, we spend some time doing gardening or cleaning aviarys. The aviary's get cleaned every 1 or 2 weeks, or more if needed. We mostly just rake when needed and scrub out the birds bathes when they go green. When I say gardening, I mean that we are either trimming some of the bushes that have gone crazy over the summer, or raking up grass after John has mown the lawns. If there's really not much to do, we will sometimes take out a Harris Hawk into the arboretum. Or we'll just spend 10 minutes talking before the first demo, if there's not enough time to fly a hawk.
There are 3 displays during the day, normally, they all have 3 birds in each. To get ready for the first demo, someone has to weigh Toby the barn owl, and someone has to weigh Thaine the Jackal Buzzard, and remove his mews jesses. These two birds have to be done before the demo. The last bird in the demo, Tango the lanner falcon, can be hooded and weighed during the owl demonstration if needed. If he is weighed before the start of the demonstration, he usually has to be held instead of put on a perch or in a box. This is because he likes to jump around even when hooded, and is in danger of damaging his wing or tail if not watched. He's an amazing flyer though.
After the first demo we eat lunch. The demo is done at noon, and we don't need to get ready for the next one until 1:00, so we have a nice long lunch hour. I usually bring a book to read during lunch, because half the time nobody talks the whole time. Of course, half the time there's a really interesting conversation that goes on, so I don't always read the book that a carry around with me.
at 1:00 we get ready for the second demo. The demo's are changing a little bit, so the birds flown are varied. We usually fly Victoria the vulture first, but we've started flying Minch the common buzzard some. Second we have Cleo the Turkemanian Eagle Owl, which is the second biggest type of owl, or Sage the white-faced Scops Owl, who is my favorite owl. He sounds like a cat, and is so small that his claws don't hurt, and he won't bite you. He's just the best little owl. Last in the demo is Tuesday the lanner falcon. She's a pretty awesome bird, and is one of the calmest falcons in the whole center. Her only flaw is her habit of getting poo all over her jesses and leash. Yuck! When Sage, Cleo, Minch, and/or Tuesday are flown, they all need weighed, and the non-owls need their mews jesses removed. During the displays the volunteers get to help by letting out the owls, calling the buzzards down to a chick, and bringing out the falcon. If not much needs done, the volunteers can sit in the stands and watch the demo.
After this demo we sometimes finish a job we started in the morning, but more often we fly some birds. When there are two volunteers and two more experienced people are working, one pair can take out a Harris hawk while the other flies an owl. Then they can switch. I'm now allowed to fly Morris the Bengal Eagle owl and Roo the Turkemanian Eagle Owl by myself. I really like Morris, even though he's not reliable enough to be let off the creance (a long, thin string used to stop the birds from flying away while in training). Roo, on the other hand, can be really bitey. He is a really good flyer, and sometimes used in demos, but you have to keep your eye one him. Oh yeah: If Sage the scops owl isn't flown in either the second or the third demo, he can be flown during this time period.
After these birds are flown, it's time to set up for the 3rd demo. The first set of birds is a pair of crested cara-caras called George and Mildred. These are a type of scavenger, so we place chicken legs under up-side down, plastic flower pots. The cara-caras can flip these pots over to get the food underneath. The owl used in this demonstration is often Roo, but on John's week off we've been using Sage or Cleo instead. For the falcon we use Tattoo the Saker falcon, or Guen(ivere) the Lugger falcon.
After this Demo is finished, we finish jobs from earlier, fly owls or Harris Hawks, or just get the food ready, and feed all the birds. When John's here we usually finish jobs from the morning, or fly a couple Harris Hawks if we didn't do them earlier. When Gary's here we usually just start feeding and take out hawks later if we have extra time. When getting the food ready, you just put the chicks left over from the day before, and the legless/headless chicks into buckets to be used first, and the rest of the chicks in a bucket to be used second. Then one person feeds all the tethered birds (an experienced person b/c that's where most of the flying birds are) and one person to feed the aviarys, which I am now able to do. When there's a lot of people, the extras start on the food room. The yolk bucket gets emptied, the containers that held chicks get cleaned, and the floor gets swept and mopped. If it is raining or going to rain heavily, or if a dangerous bird is on the loose (like Cleo; I will write an e-mail on escapees soon), most or all of the tethered birds need to come inside. After all that is done, you are ready to leave.
So, that is my day at the falconry center. In case your wondering, on average, I get to fly 1 or 2 Harris Hawks a day, and 1 or 2 owls a day. Once John gets back, I should be allowed to start going out with Harris Hawks on my own. On days like yesterday when there are a lot of people working and not much to do, I can fly up to 3 hawks, and 2 owls, and help with the falcons and the demos. So, I'm getting a lot of flying time in, if your wondering, even if i do complain about the rakeing. Mostly I'm just joking around about that, since that's an ongoing joke at the center.
Anyways, I will end this really long e-mail here. Some of the subjects that I will soon write about are escapees and school groups, so If you are dying to know, and I forget that I was going to write about them, remind me!
As always, I love getting e-mails from everyone. My special request is that anyone in Joshua Force tell me what's been happening! I really miss youth group and I want to know everything thats happened in the last month, lol.
Lots of Love,
~Nettie
P.S. Dad, while I'm sure my vocabulary is going a bit U.K., I happen to know that my use of 'lovely' dates back before coming here, and I'm still the only person I know who uses the word much. I will try to send you an e-mail soon, but there is a 'queue' for the computer right now, so I need to get off. Bye!
Okay, so I'm really sorry that i haven't written in forever. I'm just getting over a cold which has made me basically do nothing but go to work, eat, and sleep for the last couple days.
Anyways, what should i write about...You know, it's really hard to think of good subjects for e-mails, since what you guys want to know is mostly everyday stuff. So, I will try to describe a 'normal' day at the falconry center.
But first, I will make a list of the people at the falconry center.
Tom Graham--the owner of Falcons of Thorp Perrow. He doesn't do a lot of the actual work with the birds anymore.
John--The second-in-command. He is basically the top person, since Tom's not always even at the Center. He's there six days a week
Sophie--Another experienced falconer. She's 16, but has been working there for 4 years. I like to tease her on how I have a driving license and she doesn't, because you can't get a license until you're 17 here.
David--Another full time volunteer like me. He's here 5 days a week.
Terry--Another experienced falconer. He's in 1 or 2 days a week.
Gary--Another experienced falconer, but still a volunteer I met him for the first time last Friday. He's in once a week, but he won't be here for the winter.
Holly--A volunteer 1 day a week. She's been here over a year, but is not especially far along since she's not here much.
Simon--A volunteer who's here on Friday's. He's really fun to talk to, though we've gotten into debates about the strangest things.
Jo--Terry's daughter. I haven't met her yet: she's just coming back from her seasonal job at Woburn Safari Park working with the birds of prey there. She's back on Saturday.
Onto my day at work...
My first alarm goes off at 7:30, my second at 7:40, and then I get up by 7:45. I get dressed, go downstairs, put on the kettle for a cup of tea or coffee (depending on if I'm feeling sick or not), and make my packed lunch. My lunch is usually some type of sandwich (cheese and hummus has been my favorite lately), a yogurt with fruit jelly to mix in, maybe an orange or a banana, and something for dessert (or 'pudding,' as it's called here). My ride comes to pick me up between 8:20 and 8:40.
We arrive at Thorp Perrow (the falconry center) between 8:40 and 9:00. The first thing we do when we arrive is put the kettle on for tea. btw, when I talk about the kettle its actually an electric kettle, so you don't boil water on the stove. It's kind of like using a coffee pot just to heat up water. While one person takes orders for and makes the drinks, the others will check all the aviary's to make sure all the birds are alive, take out any birds that were inside overnight (because of rain, et cetera), and prepare the food. As I've already described in one of the other e-mails, we yolk some of the chicks and pull legs off others. After these jobs are finished, we pause for some coffee/tea, and plan a little bit of what is happening later in the day.
Often we will take out the 3 young falcons that are being flown to the lure at this time of day. David and I bring the birds in to be weighed and readied to be flown. We help carry and hold the birds for one of the more experienced people to fly. This week we've been learning how to hood the falcons. Soon we won't need any help to get them ready. Sophie said that she will show me and David how to swing a lure sometime soon, but I won't be able to actually fly a falcon before I leave, because you really need to learn the timing of it with an inexperienced falcon that will get better at the same rate you will.
Anyways, after flying the falcons, or instead of flying the falcons, depending on the number of people working, we spend some time doing gardening or cleaning aviarys. The aviary's get cleaned every 1 or 2 weeks, or more if needed. We mostly just rake when needed and scrub out the birds bathes when they go green. When I say gardening, I mean that we are either trimming some of the bushes that have gone crazy over the summer, or raking up grass after John has mown the lawns. If there's really not much to do, we will sometimes take out a Harris Hawk into the arboretum. Or we'll just spend 10 minutes talking before the first demo, if there's not enough time to fly a hawk.
There are 3 displays during the day, normally, they all have 3 birds in each. To get ready for the first demo, someone has to weigh Toby the barn owl, and someone has to weigh Thaine the Jackal Buzzard, and remove his mews jesses. These two birds have to be done before the demo. The last bird in the demo, Tango the lanner falcon, can be hooded and weighed during the owl demonstration if needed. If he is weighed before the start of the demonstration, he usually has to be held instead of put on a perch or in a box. This is because he likes to jump around even when hooded, and is in danger of damaging his wing or tail if not watched. He's an amazing flyer though.
After the first demo we eat lunch. The demo is done at noon, and we don't need to get ready for the next one until 1:00, so we have a nice long lunch hour. I usually bring a book to read during lunch, because half the time nobody talks the whole time. Of course, half the time there's a really interesting conversation that goes on, so I don't always read the book that a carry around with me.
at 1:00 we get ready for the second demo. The demo's are changing a little bit, so the birds flown are varied. We usually fly Victoria the vulture first, but we've started flying Minch the common buzzard some. Second we have Cleo the Turkemanian Eagle Owl, which is the second biggest type of owl, or Sage the white-faced Scops Owl, who is my favorite owl. He sounds like a cat, and is so small that his claws don't hurt, and he won't bite you. He's just the best little owl. Last in the demo is Tuesday the lanner falcon. She's a pretty awesome bird, and is one of the calmest falcons in the whole center. Her only flaw is her habit of getting poo all over her jesses and leash. Yuck! When Sage, Cleo, Minch, and/or Tuesday are flown, they all need weighed, and the non-owls need their mews jesses removed. During the displays the volunteers get to help by letting out the owls, calling the buzzards down to a chick, and bringing out the falcon. If not much needs done, the volunteers can sit in the stands and watch the demo.
After this demo we sometimes finish a job we started in the morning, but more often we fly some birds. When there are two volunteers and two more experienced people are working, one pair can take out a Harris hawk while the other flies an owl. Then they can switch. I'm now allowed to fly Morris the Bengal Eagle owl and Roo the Turkemanian Eagle Owl by myself. I really like Morris, even though he's not reliable enough to be let off the creance (a long, thin string used to stop the birds from flying away while in training). Roo, on the other hand, can be really bitey. He is a really good flyer, and sometimes used in demos, but you have to keep your eye one him. Oh yeah: If Sage the scops owl isn't flown in either the second or the third demo, he can be flown during this time period.
After these birds are flown, it's time to set up for the 3rd demo. The first set of birds is a pair of crested cara-caras called George and Mildred. These are a type of scavenger, so we place chicken legs under up-side down, plastic flower pots. The cara-caras can flip these pots over to get the food underneath. The owl used in this demonstration is often Roo, but on John's week off we've been using Sage or Cleo instead. For the falcon we use Tattoo the Saker falcon, or Guen(ivere) the Lugger falcon.
After this Demo is finished, we finish jobs from earlier, fly owls or Harris Hawks, or just get the food ready, and feed all the birds. When John's here we usually finish jobs from the morning, or fly a couple Harris Hawks if we didn't do them earlier. When Gary's here we usually just start feeding and take out hawks later if we have extra time. When getting the food ready, you just put the chicks left over from the day before, and the legless/headless chicks into buckets to be used first, and the rest of the chicks in a bucket to be used second. Then one person feeds all the tethered birds (an experienced person b/c that's where most of the flying birds are) and one person to feed the aviarys, which I am now able to do. When there's a lot of people, the extras start on the food room. The yolk bucket gets emptied, the containers that held chicks get cleaned, and the floor gets swept and mopped. If it is raining or going to rain heavily, or if a dangerous bird is on the loose (like Cleo; I will write an e-mail on escapees soon), most or all of the tethered birds need to come inside. After all that is done, you are ready to leave.
So, that is my day at the falconry center. In case your wondering, on average, I get to fly 1 or 2 Harris Hawks a day, and 1 or 2 owls a day. Once John gets back, I should be allowed to start going out with Harris Hawks on my own. On days like yesterday when there are a lot of people working and not much to do, I can fly up to 3 hawks, and 2 owls, and help with the falcons and the demos. So, I'm getting a lot of flying time in, if your wondering, even if i do complain about the rakeing. Mostly I'm just joking around about that, since that's an ongoing joke at the center.
Anyways, I will end this really long e-mail here. Some of the subjects that I will soon write about are escapees and school groups, so If you are dying to know, and I forget that I was going to write about them, remind me!
As always, I love getting e-mails from everyone. My special request is that anyone in Joshua Force tell me what's been happening! I really miss youth group and I want to know everything thats happened in the last month, lol.
Lots of Love,
~Nettie
P.S. Dad, while I'm sure my vocabulary is going a bit U.K., I happen to know that my use of 'lovely' dates back before coming here, and I'm still the only person I know who uses the word much. I will try to send you an e-mail soon, but there is a 'queue' for the computer right now, so I need to get off. Bye!
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