Post by kaktusjak67 on Oct 14, 2009 9:17:24 GMT -5
Night hawking with a cooper's?? 'Borderhawk' highlighted some of the philosophy of nighthawking...basically, in roost hawking situations there is usually enough ambient light from parking lot lights or store fronts for raptors to see the quarry (roosting birds). It's usually just a matter of getting raptors to come back to a lure held in the beam of a flashlight on the ground (something that every trained raptor should be accustomed to for obvious reasons).
As for cooper's and bird abatement, I can think of no other bird better suited for bird control than the imprint cooper's, she may be a bit more prone to intensive husbandry, but she can do the work of three Harris' Hawks and strike fear into bird roosts that a Harris' Hawk could only imagine. I've seen Harris' Hawks mobbed by grackles, never has that happened to a cooper's I've flown. As well, grackles can outfly a Harris', I wish I had counted the times that 'Morticia' (the pathetic looking creature pictured in this chain) rebounded after that first strike of a slip and flew down grackles on second and third attempts many times!!! I don't intend to degrade the Harris'; it is a great bird - easy to handle, very workable, intelligent, adaptable, available, and will always have a place in my mews...my research is on comparisons of raptor species for bird control in all aspects...these were my observations.
Passage cooper's for bird control?? Still researching that aspect, but I think it is a extremely viable option. However, since it would not be captive-bred, you can't receive any compensation for the work, but you would make alot of friends in the retail storefront industry. Then again, refferring to it as work is somewhat of a misnomer because bird control is that fun!!!
I could only hope that more people would give the cooper's hawk a try. Hopefully, in the near future more captive-bred sources of this species will emerge.
The flash and dash of the cooper's is a large part of why I became a falconer...
I hope this explains a few things.
-Kaktusjak
As for cooper's and bird abatement, I can think of no other bird better suited for bird control than the imprint cooper's, she may be a bit more prone to intensive husbandry, but she can do the work of three Harris' Hawks and strike fear into bird roosts that a Harris' Hawk could only imagine. I've seen Harris' Hawks mobbed by grackles, never has that happened to a cooper's I've flown. As well, grackles can outfly a Harris', I wish I had counted the times that 'Morticia' (the pathetic looking creature pictured in this chain) rebounded after that first strike of a slip and flew down grackles on second and third attempts many times!!! I don't intend to degrade the Harris'; it is a great bird - easy to handle, very workable, intelligent, adaptable, available, and will always have a place in my mews...my research is on comparisons of raptor species for bird control in all aspects...these were my observations.
Passage cooper's for bird control?? Still researching that aspect, but I think it is a extremely viable option. However, since it would not be captive-bred, you can't receive any compensation for the work, but you would make alot of friends in the retail storefront industry. Then again, refferring to it as work is somewhat of a misnomer because bird control is that fun!!!
I could only hope that more people would give the cooper's hawk a try. Hopefully, in the near future more captive-bred sources of this species will emerge.
The flash and dash of the cooper's is a large part of why I became a falconer...
I hope this explains a few things.
-Kaktusjak