Fraptorday: Weekly Raptor

Well, my DSLR was stolen, but I still have my archives to draw upon.

chc meet 20011228 051 ws

Steve Layman gave a demonstration at the 2001 California Hawking Club of the sort of results he gets using straight operant conditioning with his falconry birds. Sharp-shinned hawks are accipiters, high-strung and with a reputation for being temperamental. Layman’s technique, though, resulted in this bird paying close attention to him, performing a series of jump-ups and flights to the lure despite being in front of an audience of falconers in a hotel meeting room. At the end of the demonstration, she got her reward. By her expression, she isn’t willing to share.

Wesley R. Elsberry

Falconer. Interdisciplinary researcher: biology and computer science. Data scientist in real estate and econometrics. Blogger. Speaker. Photographer. Husband. Christian. Activist.

3 thoughts on “Fraptorday: Weekly Raptor

  • 2007/10/17 at 10:10 pm
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    No, I am pretty certain that the bird in the picture is a sharp-shinned hawk. Sharpies are a good deal smaller than their Cooper’s hawk cousins, but with many of the accipiter behavioral traits common to sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper’s hawks, and goshawks.

  • 2009/03/12 at 8:42 pm
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    Nice Sharp-shinned you got there. im looking for a coopers hawks for falconry. not having any luck trapping one with my pigeons.

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