Falconry: Day 5

*These are always better viewed in the slideshow mode. Just click on one of the photos!*

In the fourth photo, Andrea and her son Judah watch one of the hawks as Al tries to rustle a squirrel from a nearby tree. When Kit was out, three rabbits and two squirrels came out but she missed them. The other two, Z and Tess, were lagging and not into the hunt today and only missed a squirrel and a rabbit. None of the birds caught anything today hence the lack of blood and guts. 

The last photo is definitely one of my favourites. Have to look for more detail shots next time. 

Falconry: Day 4

Z and Tess having their hoods removed before hunting. 

To rustle rabbits and other game, Al often has to go into the densest parts of wooded lots.

Al talks to Z about their lack of catches for the day. 

Kit struggles to pluck the squirrel while Al wrestles it away from her since it is not dead and he is unable to suffocate it. 

Kit looks after Al after he's made the trade and, in her eyes, stolen her catch.

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*The first two are photos and the others are still grabs from video*

Today was poor for hunting- we went from noon until 2:30 and the two older girls missed a rabbit and a squirrel. Al packed up and went to a park in Greece and took the youngest, Kit, out around the park.

 After Kit caught the squirrel he took it to feed her at home. More people were beginning to show up at the park and he's been heckled by animal rights people for torturing the squirrels. However, today the one guy that saw us playing "catch" said it was the coolest thing he'd seen all day. I was like, "damn straight it is." Definitely the coolest thing I did today. 

Below is a picture of me that Al took after we played catch which began with him giving me a bag of raw squirrel meat and walking to the other side of the lot. We took turns whistling to Kit when we had a piece of meat on our gloves and she would fly from one person to the other.

 It was her reward for catching the squirrel and having to wait and my first chance to have a bird land on me. Earlier I'd picked up Tess without a glove and was suddenly hyper aware of Al mentioning they have hundreds of pounds of pressure in each toe. "She won't grab on...probably," were his reassuring words. 

The Perfect Supplement: Fully Realized

On Saturday Autumn showed me the building she's hoping to buy/be given/have transformed by Extreme Home Makeover to make into the official Sent By Raven's Food Pantry- birthed out of the idea of all the waste she's seen dumpster diving. Obviously, the food for the pantry won't be pulled from the trash but with a 501C-3 form that she just paid and applied for the food pantry will be able to go to grocery stores we know are wasting food and ask them for it before it "hits the bins". She's working with a lawyer, builder, accountant, and a slew of other people who can get this project off the ground and up and running. 

Today, we did a short interview at her house and the cover image is pulled from the video. I have to say, it was pretty fun! 

Here's a mock layout I did quickly as an experiment. Sorry for any typos, it's 1:20am here. 

*Distributing. Not districuting. 

Winter

Took a hike to look for the bald eagles at the south end of Conesus lake without success. Better planning next time to avoid the frigid swamp waters. 

Is Poaching an Issue in N.Y.?

On an excursion through the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) land at the south end inlet of Conesus lake yesterday, we came across three deer rib cages and a pile of bones. The cut hair and skin deliberately pulled down toward where the neck would have met the body heavily suggested the remains had been left by humans. 

Twenty feet away was a fourth carcass, shown above. To the shame of my inner detective heart, I chose not to open the bag. These bodies make for five deer carcasses found by happenstance in less than a month. This raised a lot of questions so I did a little digging and discovered deer poaching is an issue in New York state. National Geographic and others have published stories on poaching in Africa when it is also happening here on our own soil. Granted, the deer are far from extinction like the rhino is, but "deer jacking" is illegal and unfair to animals. In 2011 the DEC released a statement (hover here for the story) listing ticketed persons for poaching across the state and into New England. 

My mom suspected the deer we found may have been gutted and dressed at a home instead of at a taxidermist or deer processor and the remains dumped with no better place to leave them. But why leave the heads, a single horn, the trash bag, or the skins? And why was one of the rib cages significantly smaller than the others- the size of a fawn? It could be well worth pursuing to see how big of an issue it is. 

Falconry: Day 3

On Friday the 14th, the girls didn't catch anything for two hours. Al moved to a different place after I left and they caught a couple squirrels. These are edited still frames from video I shot. So far, over three days, I've devoted a single day for photo, audio and video, respectively. As the season continues I will likely pick and choose a little more to get a solid base for a piece then improve everything as time goes on.

I really love the top two. Even though the birds don't have any affection for Al like a pet dog would and the girls are still wild, that doesn't keep them from growing on Al. He truly loves and cares for his birds. 

Some of the other photos are better quality for sure but they lack the emotional and connection that I was searching for when I began this story. It's great to not have the pressure of doing this for a class. I've gotten most of what goes on in one form or another it's just a matter of focusing the story and using the right media format for the right moments. 

Poaching in Greece

Out working on the falconry story I nearly stumbled into this carcass. It was in a weird place behind some old trucks abandoned behind a church- not likely near enough to the road to have been hit but I presumed no hunter would have left the meat. 

When Al walked by and saw it he said, "What a waste." He told me a lot of poaching still occurs and pointed out where the antlers had been cut off. It had been culled for its horns and the meat left for the animals- largely wasted. 

In October, National Geographic featured the poaching of elephants for their ivory in Botswana but this is an issue that also occurs in our area. There are a lot of people who would gladly have taken that meat. When my dad was in college, he and his roommates would dress dear that had been hit by cars near their house. This deer was likely shot so some hunters could add another rack to their wall. True, it could have been hit and discovered but we also came across a hunter on posted private property who skulked away when we gave him a wave.