Tag: jesses

Female Kestrel With Jesses, In Flight

Yesterday morning we found the female American Kestrel with attached jesses once again.  This time we were able to get a little closer to her than we had before.  This little lady is more difficult to approach than most other kestrels on the island.    1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I think she looks and acts healthy.  She’s actively hunting and based on the blood on her jesses (most likely from voles) I’d guess that she’s good at it. I immediately called Becka Butcher, the trapper who has been trying to capture this bird so that the jesses can be removed.  Becka made another attempt later in the afternoon but she was unsuccessful.  This bird is extremely wary.  The kestrel approached the trap, even flew down and investigated it closely but would not enter it. Becka said that she and others who are qualified and licensed will continue to try to capture this bird using more “creative methods”, since traditional traps don’t seem to work on her (a number of attempts have been made).  And since she most likely escaped from a rogue, “wannabe” illegal falconer (rather than from an ethical, licensed falconer), once this falcon has been trapped and checked for health issues she will be released back into the wild.  A good thing… Ron

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Another Positive Development Regarding Lost Falconry Birds

Just a quick post this morning to announce some more good news on the “lost falconry bird” front.  (no, the female kestrel hasn’t yet been recaptured, but I believe efforts are continuing). For those new to this issue, a quick summary:  Occasionally, falconry birds escape through no fault of the handler.  When they do, they typically still have falconry gear attached – jesses, anklets, telemetry gear etc.  Every effort is made by the falconry community to recapture these birds, usually with success.  The larger segment of the problem comes from unethical “rogue” or “wannabe” falconers who capture wild birds illegally and then try to fly them without proper knowledge and experience.   Due to negligence or inexperience these illegal birds sometimes escape with their “gear” attached, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage in the wild.  My good friend and constant photography companion Mia McPherson and I have come across and photographed three of these escaped birds in the last three years.  At least two of the three were most likely the result of rogue falconers rather than the organized falconry community.  More details of what has already transpired can be found here. When someone spots one of these escaped birds in the wild, getting through to the “right” person for reporting and appropriate action is cumbersome, time-consuming and frustrating (believe me, I know!).  It’s difficult to get through all the layers of DWR’s bureaucracy, finding a rehabber who can help isn’t easy and there hasn’t been an efficient avenue for a non-falconer to report a found bird to the falconry community.  The North America Falconer’s Association (NAFA) website…

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Good News Regarding The Escaped Peregrine Falcon and American Kestrel

Recently I’ve photographed and posted about two escaped falconry birds – a female American Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon.  Both were flying free with attached jesses and/or anklets in the vicinity of Antelope Island.  Both were reported to wildlife authorities and to the falconry community but each bird has been a challenge to recapture for a variety of reasons – among them the difficulty of getting proper permission for the licensed trapper to attempt the recapture of the kestrel in a state park.  There were lots of hoops to jump through. It is very likely, for a variety of reasons, that both of these birds were originally captured illegally by “wannabe” falconers and not by anyone in the organized and licensed falconry community. Two days after we found the kestrel we met the licensed trapper out on the island to point out the area where the bird was hanging out and to try to find her, which we never did.   But yesterday morning we spotted the female Kestrel once again, in the very same area where we found her before.  She was far off but when she scratched her face one of the jesses became obvious, as you can see in this photo.  I immediately called the trapper to report that the bird was in the area again and she was enthusiastic about making the attempt but as far as she knew, permissions from the state still hadn’t been obtained. A little background before I get to the good news.  When Mark Runnels (master falconer from Oklahoma) saw my first post on the female kestrel,…

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Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – This Time A Female American Kestrel

Yesterday morning I spotted this female American Kestrel perched on a far-off rock to the west on Antelope Island.  She was much too far away for decent photographs (as is obvious from the mediocre quality of these first five photos) but when I see raptors at most any distance it’s my practice to “scope them out” through my lens so I can ID them and look for anything unusual or interesting.   I took a couple of shots for documentary purposes but at first I didn’t notice anything noteworthy about her except for the keratin flaking off of her beak.     But then she scratched her face with her foot.  Jesses!  Those damned jesses again.   In this shot you can see anklets above both feet and the jess on the left leg.     She perched and preened on the rock for quite a while and a few minutes later she scratched with her other foot which provided a good look at the jess on the right ankle.     I’m including this shot for a look at her right side, in the unlikely event that some local falconer may recognize her.     I hung around for a long time in the hopes of catching her at take-off for a better look at both jesses and anklets.  As luck would have it, when it happened they were both in shade and I lost focus on the bird but the photo still provides a decent look at the jesses.   I’m deeply troubled by this event and I’ll provide a little background as…

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Falconry – A Detriment To The Birds?

As some of you will remember, I’ve recently made two posts calling into question some of the ethics of the “sport” (some don’t like that term) of falconry.   This was the bird that prompted my most recent post – an “escaped” female Peregrine Falcon that I photographed along the Antelope Island causeway a few weeks ago.  You’ll notice that she still has her leather falconry anklets above her feet (only one can be seen in this photo).     And last year, this escaped male American Kestrel was loose near Farmington Bay WMA and it still had not only its anklets but its jesses.  The extreme danger to the bird of having those long, dangling jesses engangle and kill the kestrel is obvious. In both posts I questioned the ethics of falconry in general, but admitting my relative ignorance of the subject I asked (on the second post) for more information from my readers to “enlighten” me on the subject. For those who haven’t seen those posts and have the interest, here’s the links: Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon, Again   Mark Runnels, a master falconer from Oklahoma, responded to the second post with a series of very detailed, knowledgeable and thoughtful comments on falconry – responding to each of my concerns dispassionately and eloquently. However, that post was made on September 17 and Mark didn’t begin to comment until October 23, which means that his valuable information likely went under the radar for most of my readers (very few folks come back to a…

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Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon

Early this morning, just as the sun was coming up over the Wasatch Mountains, we came across this adult Peregrine Falcon, with prey,  along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park.  It is apparently another escaped falconry bird as it had obvious falconry anklets above its feet, though the actual jesses had been removed.   1/500, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This first image was taken where we first found it – along the edge of the causeway and next to the Great Salt Lake shoreline.  A few seconds after this shot was taken the bird took off.      1/800, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc  But seven minutes later, as we proceeded along the causeway, we found the bird perched on this highway post.      1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This shot was taken as the falcon took off from the post.  You’ll notice that the leather falconry anklets, sans jesses, are apparent in each of the above three images.      1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And the last time we saw the bird it had landed far away on the large boulders lining the east side of the Antelope Island Marina. We’ve reported this sighting to the Utah Division of Natural Resources and they’ve told us that they will follow up on it. I’ve always admired the sport of falconry on several levels.  Falconers generally have a deep devotion and personal attachment to their birds that I respect and they and their organizations have done a lot for raptor conservation…

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