Nomad
Posted 2/6/2015 Author: Bruce A. Haak (Reprinted here with the permission of the Author) I called him "Nomad" because I didn't know where he had come from and I wasn't sure where he was going. Such is the nature of passage prairie falcons, winged hunters that might traverse half of the temperate latitudes of western North America during their lifetimes. The prairie falcon is North America's only indigenous falcon Prairie Falcon called Nomadspecies, and most of its habitat lies within the borders of the United States. The heart of its range and the largest concentration of eyries are in southwest Idaho, where I moved in 1984. At the Snake River Canyon, which is a short
Hunting Is For The Birds
On a crisp November morning, Troy Taylor, a computer technician from Star, walks out into an open field dotted with sagebrush. A hawk ruffles its feathers atop a large stand-like pole he is carrying, called a “t-perch.” There’s a sudden movement a midst the plants, and Taylor shouts, “Ho, ho, ho, ho!” aTroys he directs the hawk towards the disturbance. Immediately, the bird of prey launches from its perch and begins to track the wild rabbit that had burst through the brush. After climbing into the sky, the raptor tucks its wings and dives towards its newfound prey, falling with increasing speed. At the last moment, it extends its razor sharp talons and –