Not Meta, Really: Hawkfest (with Ravens and Herons)

[mark_asphodel]

So, today I went down to Lake Erie Metropark for the annual Hawkfest, a two-day celebration of our good friends, the raptors.  

I love hawks.  Even if they do show up in my yard and try to eat the squirrels and birds that we feed, the way a young female Cooper's Hawk wanted to yesterday (she missed).  I love them even more after hanging out with Peregrine Falcons, Red-Tailed Hawk, various owls, a Turkey Vulture that thinks it's a person, and an incredibly adorable American Kestrel.  Kestrels are like the budgies of the hawk world, dove-sized and darling.  This cutie made little chirps when her trainer gave her a spray-bottle bath, and puffed up into a sphere and began shrieking when she caught sight of a wild Cooper's Hawk that had just been released after banding.  

Facts about hawks:

"Hawk" is kind of a catch-all term in the US and UK, encompassing accipiters like the Cooper's Hawk, buteos like the Red-Tailed Hawk, falcons, eagles, and even buzzards.  Basically, it can mean "any bird of prey that's not an owl."

Buteo and accipiter hawks, compared with falcons, are clumsy as hell.  I have seen some hilarious "misses" by immature hawks that would've made me famous for a couple of seconds on YouTube if I'd taped them.  This is part of why falcons have the status as the preferred hunting bird.

Hawks have amazingly keen eyesight.  Scary keen.  Like, able to see a pea set down in the touchdown zone from the opposite end of an American football field.

Traditionally, "falcon" is a term for a female bird, while "tiercel" applies to the male.  (Take that, Falcon Sword!)

Female hawks are larger than the males.  Quite noticeably larger.  And often more aggressive.

Hawks that imprint on humans as hatchlings and learn to think of themselves as humans will select a human "mate" and fend off potential human competitors.  So do some other birds-- I met the "wife" of a Great Horned Owl today.  The owl got noticeably antsy if male humans came to close to his lady. 

They can learn a pretty interesting array of verbal commands, and recognize things like cameras.

Facts about ravens:

Ravens are awesome.  I need not say more.

Facts about herons:

Herons are predators, dammit.

Comments

[amielleon]

I lol'd.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

You realize that this means the whole Hawk King thing is total sexist BS. They should have badass Hawk Queens. Yes.

[amielleon]

Let's talk more about this after the herons start eating fish.

[myaru.livejournal.com]

a Turkey Vulture that thinks it's a person

Please, tell me more. This sounds hilarious. XD

I love owls.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Please, tell me more

Well, basically he imprinted on humans and thinks of himself as one. He's fallen for one of the female keepers at the refuge where he lives, and tries to jump her whenever she enters the cage. Imagine being ravished by a bird with a six-foot wingspan!

The two "imprinted" birds I met today really did have a different way of relating to people than the ones who were used for falconry or who ended up in the refuge because of injuries. If I wanted to go all New Age, I'd say they had a different vibration. And their understanding of English commands was, if not quite on the scale of an African Gray or other kind of parrot, pretty damned impressive. I mean, to see a vulture showing off for an audience, or an owl posing for a camera, triggered by the sight of the extension lens... wow. And the more "wild" birds just weren't into that, at all.

[myaru.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I'm not sure I'm ready for birds ravishing women after all.

That's amazing. I'd love to see this in person someday. I want to say you see the same thing in cats, but they've been domesticated for so long that it doesn't have quite the same impact as hearing about a vulture who has the hots for one of his keepers. (Which is really funny, I have to remember that.)

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I want to say you see the same thing in cats, but they've been domesticated for so long that it doesn't have quite the same impact as hearing about a vulture who has the hots for one of his keepers.

The weird thing about one of the owls (a massive Eurasian Eagle Owl), was that, instead of feeling like a bird-person, or a bird-bird, he felt like a... dog. Or a cat. You walk up, and there's this big yellow-eyed THING under the folding table, just acting a little bored and resigned-- "Oh, another show. With people. More people. Where's my human?"

I've always said my tabby cat looks like an owl, but the comparison is more apt than I'd imagined.

BTW-- female Great Horned Owl = most aggressive predatory bird on the continent. They hijack eagle nests, and the eagles decide to pack up and move.

[xirysa.livejournal.com]

Oh, this brings back memories from my childhood, watching Animal Planet all day long and memorizing every little thing I heard and saw. :P

[hooves.livejournal.com]

a Turkey Vulture that thinks it's a person

I hate vultures, man. D:

Herons are predators, dammit.

Every time I think about this shit I picture certain FE9/10 heron laguz. Rafiel/Nailah, anybody?!

[rethira.livejournal.com]

Raptors are awesome. And quite terrifying when you're two and they decide you'd make a good perch.

Also the thing with herons is they're fish eaters, so there's a lot less aerial fighting they have to do. They're not as dynamic, or what have you.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

They're still streamlined killing machines. Turning herons into elven representatives of peace, love, and vegetarianism is one of the most WTF things about Tellius to me. Herons are badass.

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

I might be wrong about this, but I recall hearing somewhere that herons (egrets, more specifically) were seen as symbols of peace in Japanese culture, which might be where IS got the idea for the Serenes herons.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Mm. It kind of makes sense, but changing a predatory critter (infamously so, wrt King Log/King Stork and similar tales) to the exact opposite has always rubbed me the wrong way. It just really seems lazy, taking these critter concepts and humanizing them without regard for what makes defines the species in the first place.

I feel the same way about hippie peacenik dolphins. Dolphins are BAMFs.

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

Yeah... aren't the most peaceful animals usually the ugliest? :P