Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Men with big falcons have a small penis

But unfortunately they most probably do not read my blog so please pass this on to them.

This morning I met up again with Rune Palmqvist. We birded the NW Negev area. In fact it was a rather slow day with few birds, perhaps in response to the funny weather today. The peak event of the day was a negative one - we found this female adult-type Barbary Falcon dead on a high-voltage pylon - this bird escaped from a falconer, and its jesses got tangled on the pylon. I climbed up the pylon to collect the bird (about 10 m above ground) and managed not to get myself electrocuted. 

Such a shame - it was such a pretty bird. Lovely rufous head pattern and rich cinnamon underparts. 


Falconery is illegal in Israel but unfortunately it is practiced illegally by some Bedouins in the Negev. However, it is impossible to know where this bird escaped from - we've had cases of large falcons escaping from Arabia and ending up here. Of course in Arabia flaconery is a big deal and the falconery industry circulates huge amounts of money. Bunch of assholes. They have big shotguns and big 4WD's too. I am sure it reflects in the length of their penises.



What a terrible and unnecessary death.






Among the few live birds we had were some Merlins and Peregrines, Eastern Imperial Eagles and two Finsch's Wheatears.

Merlin (sorry I couldn't be bothered to photoshop away all the branches behind the bird)


Ha-ha! I'm too small for falconery!


This Whitethroat was the only real sign of migration.


8 comments:

  1. It's amazing how pale that Merlin was. In my youth I kept big snakes. I guess I must have a small penis too. Falconry in and of itself does not anger me. Cruelty and neglect to captive animals does.

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    1. Hi John, take it easy, I know you are one of the good guys. I was talking about those Arabian Sheikhs, trapping thousands of wild falcons every year for this trade, and then using them to hunt endangered bustards and sandgrouse.

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  2. an entertaining and refreshingly BS-free post Yoav.

    best,
    Mark

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  3. An unnessary tragedy.You did not get electrocuted for a good course.God bless you.

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  4. I was trying to be funny with my comment about snakes and a small penis. People often commented that I kept snakes to compensate for a lack of prowess in that area. It was all true.
    It's a shame that such a beautiful bird got electricuted, and lucky that you did not.

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    1. The bird did not get electrocuted - it got tangled on the pylon by the snares connected to its legs

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  5. I would like to point something out for your consideration. The gear attached to that barbary falcon (a male) is not jesses/handling gear. Rather what you see there is a noose apparatus that is tied to the tarsi of the barbary. This is a mechanisim used by falcon trappers to trap a second falcon, using the barbary as bait. You should know that this is an outdated and much frowned upon technique that does not represent modern falconry. The person who did this is not likely a falconer, but rather a person doing this for economic reasons. Real falconers are dedicated conservationists and would never purchase a bird from such a person. I hope you will see that falconry, when performed correctly, is simply a means to witness the majesty of falcon evolution at close range - and the falcons are kept in pristine condition and are at ease in the cooperative relationship that benefits them.

    https://vimeo.com/80850487

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  6. Notice also that modern falconers do not fly the falcon with jesses at all. As shown in the video above.

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