{morsel life: falconry}

*sigh* Oh goodness. I apologize for the very big gap between my recent post and this one.

Daddy has been bugging me constantly about posting, because he wants "Something good to read" but in reality, he just wants me to post a bout his new bird and how awesome it is.

Daddy, here is the post you've been waiting for. I hope I do it justice. :)

As I have mentioned just about 100 times, our boys are into this thing called "falconry" In August, they started on yet another journey filled with beautiful birds, a freezer full of quail, dead squirrels, and lots of interesting times.

Isaac was the first of the 3 to catch his hawk, Blaze. As far as I know, this bird is doing great! She flies to Isaac, responds well, and hunts like she should.

She has, thus far, caught a caterpillar.  

And I just realized something: out of all the pictures I have taken of these amazing birds, I have taken very few of Isaac's! And the ones I have taken I can't find on our computer. Sorry brother dear.

Daddy, like I said before, branched a little further into the world of falconry, and instead of getting a red tailed hawk again, he found himself a tiny little American Kestrel, which is the smallest falcon in North America.  She was given the name: Drift.



There's a whole lot that goes into the training of these amazing birds, a lot of details, and a lot of patience and persistence. I don't know where to begin in trying to explain how everything happens. Slowly and surely the boys trained their birds to respond to them, come to them when they whistle, and now they go hunting with them. 

These boys are very diligent in keeping track of their birds. They record the weight of the birds and how much each eats. In order to go hunting, catch things, and have the bird return to you, it has to be "low in weight" that way it's hungry and it comes back to where the food is.  

So far Drift has caught a frog, and apparently Kestrels don't like the taste of frogs.

Our neighborhood has a beautiful park area, complete with a pond, playground, tennis and basketball courts, and a soccer field. While most people use the soccer field for it's intended purpose, like...playing soccer, it serves the Morse family as a great place to fly falcons and hawks. Yep. We're that family.

And lastly:

Meet Rebel, Spencer's red tail. 

It's a family thing. How many little boys get to say they've held hawks and falcons? 

At least 4. 

These birds a beautiful and amazing.

I'm not sure if Rebel has caught anything yet, but hopefully he will soon! 

Oh, did I mention the whole "guys-carrying-a-HAWK-on-their-arm-draws-attention-where ever-they-are" thing? True story. Above is my dad surrounded by a high school cross country team minutes before they were to race.  And my dad loves every minute of it.

I've seen my dad get excited about a lot. Like the time we got a bunch of chickens and started hatching their eggs. Or when he would bring home rattle snakes and copperheads to show us. Or when he got into bow making. And arrowhead making. Or when he was into tomahawk and knife throwing. Then there was blacksmithing and metalworking. And gun collecting. He's always been into drawing. 

But this falconry deal...it takes his excited-little-boy personality to a whole other level! When he smiles and rubs his hands together while making a "ooooo" sound, we all know: the guy's excited.

And it makes me happy. Because my dad is awesome and loves his falcon.

Spencer and Isaac enjoy it too!  And I love that these 3 guys get to spend so much time doing something they all love. This falconry thing is such a good excuse for the Morse boys (all 7 of them!!) To spend time together. Us girls enjoy it too, but sometime running through woods full of thorns and poison ivy isn't very appealing. 

Besides, I'll get plenty involved with it when they do end up bringing squirrels and rabbits home, because apparently I'm the one who gonna cook them. :o