New Year's Pic

Last New Year's at Lee Henderson's ranch-- me with hounds. May your new year be bright.

Happy New Year! (With Eagles)

Blogging will resume at a better level in 2009; in particular, a lot of books to review stacked up to the right of the box, and two holiday meals (Christmas's bigos, a Polish stew with game and sauerkraut, and today's cassoulet-- still in assembly) to document.

To amuse meanwhile: Andrey Kovalenko in Kazakhstan linked me to this amazing video of an eagle attacking two displaying male Capercaillies on a lek. Look at the suicidal aggressiveness of the second cock!

I wandered around in the eagle video pages after that. We have all seen some of the popular ones but I thought this one had some very nice still pics of the "Great Philippine eagle" (better known as the Monkey eater). I wonder what the function of the unique bill is?

Which leads to this one, of a Steller's sea eagle in training. (She seems very friendly). The function of this huge bill is thought to be breaking into the carcasses of large marine mammals in places like Kamchatka, where dead blubber is a resource...

Finally, the biggest eagle of all. Notice the odd (Spanish) dubbing-- they just speak over the English. Previously only encountered that in Mongolia and Kazakkhstan- in the second case, Russian over SpongeBob Squarepants.

Merry (belated) Christmas, etc.

We are generally opposed to political correct-ness and euphemism here, but I am sympathetic to the notion that Christmas is not for everyone.

So: "Happy Holidays," y'all.

Feeder Friend

It's taken me a while to get a half-decent shot of this white-breasted nuthatch, who's a rather skittish fellow.

This is Art

We were all intrigued by this image that accompanied a NYT travel piece raving about current art exhibits in London and what a bargain it is to travel there. This installation at the

Saatchi Gallery entitled "Love it! Bite it!" is made entirely of dog chews.

As Steve said in an e-mail: "I have this picture in my head of our dogs unleashed eating thousands of pounds (in value I mean) of dog- cookie 'art'".

Blogs

We are way behind on our Blogroll but here are some more you should check out.

I first noticed Field Notes from this post on Annie Proulx but it is a consistently good read if you want to keep up on intelligent hunting.

A team? Raised by Wolves: strong and informed commentary by a dog trainer. And Did a Cat Shit in Here?: the science of smells, the training of rescue dogs, and related subjects, by a scentist, science journalist, and science fiction writer.

Also on dogs (and humans): LabRat has some fine behavior posts here, and here.

Around the Web...

Understated good taste is timeless. HT Tom McIntyre.

"It is a well known fact.." That the Virgin Mary was fond of spinach? That being eaten by hyenas doesn't hurt as much as you think? George Leonard Herter makes the NYT. I am still looking for some titles...

Detroit gives a new meaning to rewilding. HT R Arthur Wilderson.

It may have been too much to expect Michael Pollan, but did Obama have to pick a tool of Big Corn for secretary of agriculture?

Things were different back then, and not all THAT far back.

"Many years ago, my dad flew to Wisconsin on a hunting trip and carried his O/U onto the plane in a takedown case. He and the stewardess had the following exchange:

Her: “Is that a gun?”
Him: “Yes.”
Her: “It’s not loaded, is it?”
Him: “It’s not even put together.”

"Then, because it was the 60s and air travel was way better then, she probably brought him a martini. I can promise Dad was wearing a tie, too, because flying was a big deal and people dressed for the occasion."

Are men the weaker sex, or at least becoming so? Independent article here; Derb's take here.

Not the Onion: a faction in the Russian Communist party wants to purge Marx (because he was Jewish) and canonize St. Stalin.

Incredible discoveries of new animals in the Mekong Valley. This article is shorter but has a link to a PDF of the discoveries, well- illustrated. I would REALLY like to go to the Annamites or Yunnan to collect and photograph.

Passage Peregrines

Thanks to Rebecca for sending news from the USFWS on their final decision–a long time coming–to allow a limited take of first-year migrant (a.k.a. in falconry, "passage") peregrines.

From the Service memo:

"...American peregrine falcon populations continue to grow in the U.S.,especially in the West. The northern, or Arctic, peregrine falcon was delisted in 1995, and recent migration counts (2003-2006) indicate that the population remains healthy," according to Service Director H. Dale Hall.

"By allowing falconers to capture birds only in specific areas and at specific times, the Service can guarantee their removal would have no significant impact on the population. The majority of peregrine falcons that migrate from North America to Central and South America (mostly Arctic and northern American peregrines) migrate along the Atlantic coast and over the Gulf of Mexico. However, many other peregrines in the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada do not migrate far south. The FEA concludes that any take allowed is unlikely to negatively affect populations of peregrine falcons in North America or Greenland."

On the heels of recent moves to liberalize some aspects of the federal falconry regulations, this brings us further into a very interesting time to be a falconer in the US.

These not-unrelated developments stem from the hard work of many people over several decades and reflect two important facts recognized by the Service and documented in the scientific literature: the practice of falconry has no significant impact on raptor populations, and those populations are healthy, being either stable or increasing across their ranges.

Of course, most of the species used in American falconry were never threatened (common birds such as red-tailed hawks and prairie falcons), but the peregrine was a special case, both highly regarded as a trained hawk and, by the middle of the 20th century, vanishing in the wild. Its story of alarming decline and carefully charted recovery has iconic status. As an example of how widespread use of an environmentally persistent pesticide can affect animals far removed from its target, the peregrine's story will be textbook fodder for years to come.

That US falconers will have some opportunity to resume this age-old (but usually brief) relationship with the passage peregrine is a source of great excitement for many. There are numerous falconers still practicing who remember trapping young peregrines on beaches along the Eastern seaboard and the Gulf Coast. These birds were almost all "borrowed" for a single season, flown at snipe, dove and ducks through their first winter of life and then released or simply lost by springtime.

Today's commonplace use of radio telemetry will allow more of these birds to be kept for subsequent seasons. How this will affect the annual harvest of passage peregrines by the very small number of qualified falconers remains to be seen.

While in my personal falconry I admire the way hawks mature over several seasons, and I tend to retain the same bird from year to year, I would like to know some falconers will continue to pursue the traditional (that is, rather fleeting and tenuous) relationship between human and the bird called "wandering falcon."

My friend Eric will certainly try his hand at flying a passage peregrine someday. He usually flies his passage merlins for a single season, enjoying both their fall trapping and spring release, as well as their wintertime cooperation in the field.

In the weeks immediately following their release, Eric's merlins typically stay in the vicinity of his home fields, continuing to hunt with him while at complete liberty; he calls this special period "the post season." I consider it a remarkable example of cross species trust and understanding, and a testament to the mutual benefit of the falconer/raptor relationship. But at some point, usually when the winds have shifted to the south and avifauna of all kinds have begun to move north to their breeding grounds, Eric's passage falcons depart for good.

I think my friend would be satisfied, and honored, to share the same sort of life with a long series of first-time migrant peregrines. I'm looking forward to hearing his stories.

(Eric with passage female merlin, 2008)

Goose Weather

The weather here has broken much colder, it was -19 F here last night, and is finally sending waterfowl down into this region. This picture understates the population of this pond, as I was so late getting in to it that most of the over-nighters were already on their way out to feed. This area is just overrun with Canada geese in the Winter.

There was a steady stream of geese on their way out to look for lunch while I was there.

I visited this pond two or three days ago (without my camera, of course) and had seen several pairs of hooded mergansers. I was hoping to catch them today, but the non-goose crowd was down to a few coots and a pair of northern shovelers.

On my walk in to the pond, I got the evil-eye from this coyote. I apparently disrupted his plans to slink in through the cattails to go shopping.

Livestock guardian play

Once the New Fork River freezes, we have to move our sheep herd from the south side of a highway to the north side, into a pasture with an artesian well. On Saturday morning, we walked the herd underneath a highway bridge on a narrow trail along the frozen river, and they ended up out in a huge meadow where our cow herd also spends the winter. Luv's Girl, an adult Akbash guardian dog, came along with the herd, as did its three burros. We turned the rams out into the ewe flock, and then I ran back to the house and got three other sheep that had been bedded with the Aziat pups and turned them out as well.

All this commotion caused pains to our guard animals, especially to the older pair of burros, which don't like any change at all. But the fun part to watch was the introduction of new sheep into the herd and how the guardians respond to that. Luv's Girl (adult Akbash dog) and Roo (young burro) both hurried to inspect the new sheep, but in their hurry, they realized they were competing with each other for attention. So they turned their attention to each other.

Luv's Girl stood her body broadside against the burro's front legs, so the burro couldn't pass. The burro chewed on the dog's long hair on the back of her neck, with the dog tilting her head back until the burro had the flesh on the top of the dog's skull in her mouth. I'm thinking from the expression on the dog's face that it felt like a massage.





The dog and burro ended up standing there, with the dog leaning against the burro's front legs for a few minutes, before the dog walked away and the burro went back to the fresh line of hay in the snow.

Later in the day, I took Rena (1 1/2 year old Akbash) over to see her mother, Luv's Girl. I love to watch them play because they are so graceful. I like this shot of the open mouths. That's Rena on the right.



Rena is on the left in this photo. It can be difficult to tell mother and daughter apart, but the sheep know at a glance which is which and respond accordingly.

Book Thanks

Lots of Wish List books coming in and WAY behind in reviews and reading-- sorry!
I have finished (and loved) LabRat's contribution, Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir. On a completely different subject, I recommend Web Parton's bird dog book, A Bond of Passion (I intend to review both).

Chris, your Prehistory of the Silk Road is doing much for my understanding of the movements and symbols of early people there, necessary for my next book. We need to catch up-- it is "ebodio at gilanet dot com". Jack says hi too.

And Randy, thanks for Queen's Gambit, which comes highly recommended, and Otero Mesa. That wild grassland is not far away but has few access points-- I am just starting to explore it. Will review!

Uprooted

An article in the Telegraph tells how a leading children's dictionary has dropped words relating to religion, history, and the countryside.

"But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage.

""We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable," said Professor Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment at Buckingham University. "The word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural "world and towards the world that information technology creates for us.""

In the US, Roger Kimball gives us the list of "dropped" words, which I will reproduce here to show this is not a "mere" religious issue but a massive rejection of history and nature:

Words taken out:

"Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe

"Dwarf, elf, goblin

"Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar

"Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade

"adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.

"Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Ones added? I can't bring myself to print them all, but here are three, in order:

"Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism."

As one wise atheist knows, this is no way to run a culture. We need roots, and some respect for country life.

Quote of the Week

From Alston Chase, in a note:

"Politics is the endemic disease of our time, just as tuberculosis was in the 19th century."

In Defense of Hunting

At his good blog Sometimes Far Afield, Mike writes a post on the benefits of hunting, especially those we must articulate to others (in the vast majority) who do not hunt.

He opens by responding to another blogger, who takes a civil libertarian tack in his reasoning on the issue: ("...hunting has, for many people, a psychological value that is important to their well-being. Also, the protection of the right to hunt, more specifically the choice about whether to participate in hunting or not to participate, is often equally important to the non-hunter as a guarantee of the recognition of fundamental rights which therefore provides them with a sense of well-being.") I take this to mean, "Don't tread on me; I won't tread on you."

While in agreement, Mike suggests that we employ a more utilitarian approach that leans on economic considerations and benefits to wildlife populations and land conservation afforded by hunting as a legal activity.

Economic arguments have been a powerful political tool for sportsman. One of the most compelling examples I can think of was the CCA (then the GCCA) campaign to stop the commercial fishing of redfish in Texas. The heart of their argument were economic analyses showing that while a fish caught commercially by net or trot-line resulted in only a few dollars brought to the state and local economies, that same fish was worth several times that if caught by a sport fisherman. With a limited and public resource, the highest, best, use of that resource was the one that brought the most dollars, argued the conservationists. The argument, while far from applicable to every situation, worked and similar arguments can make our case for us many times.

And...later, after bringing in a good Leopold quote on the positive aspects of the profit motive in land restoration:

"Pretty" and "healthy ecosystem" aren't always the same thing. However, hunting can be a valuable means of developing that practical and aesthetic ideal for land of which Leopold wrote. Hunters require good prey populations and enough room to pursue that prey. In other words, decent and plentiful habitat. Much as I appreciate the contributions of time, money and voice by "non-consumptive" users of land and wildlife, I fear that for many of them any little remnant is adequate. They can be content to travel to Matagorda Island to see the whooping cranes, or to see a bit of preserved native prairie and the birds it hosts. If there some parks, a suburban hiking trail or three that will accommodate mountain bikes and hikers that offers a pleasant view, and nothing charismatic is going extinct they're pretty happy, it seems to me. However, to hunt we require more. More space. Healthy populations of game- which themselves require diverse and healthy ecosystems to exist for any length of time.

In comments I took my familiar, touchy-feely position that there is something magical about hunting.

Hunting, now that I do it, is like hearing or seeing: it's a sense of my environment that is impossible to experience without the necessary organ. It is the difference between viewing a photo of a house and living inside one. Or the difference between a piece of sheet music and a night at the opera.

While utilitarian arguments are good and probably necessary, there will always be a chasm of understanding between the hunter and non-hunter; essentially, if you don't hunt, you don't get it. Continuing my comments:

I think your approach is probably smarter in the real world. Absent any shared frame of reference, we've got to make arguments that have a chance of being understood. Economics, land conservation and wildlife management all find real-world benefits from hunting.

Yet I see utilitarian arguments in support of hunting as similar to utilitarian arguments in support of religious belief. They can be right, as far as they go. But considering the distances involved, they don't go very far.

If we take an empirical approach to the value of hunting, we necessarily reduce it. And by doing so we leave it vulnerable to counter-arguments that provide the same or comparable benefits (to local economies, wildlife, land protection, etc) that do NOT rely on hunting.

But for the hunter, there is no substitute for hunting.

We must at some point be willing to claim its value is intangible, even unknowable to those who don't share it. In this, hunters are like other communities of faith, having to rely on protections afforded us by political principles and constitutional rights.

Or, if it comes to it, by taking significant personal risks to continue the pursuits we've come to value and believe in, even if they offend the general sensibility.

I don't think it will come to that. But I think keeping it at bay will require we keep ALL our arguments (utilitarian and values-based) well practiced and ready.

The discussion reminds me of the exchange between some of us (Mike and myself included) and the writer Julie Zickefoose, which for those who can get it, became an article ("Love and Death Among the Cranes") in the latest issue of Birder Watcher's Digest. In her piece, Julie makes the case that while she regrets the fact of crane hunting, she concedes that bird watchers have little ethical ground to defend without putting up comparable dollars for conservation as are given by hunting permit fees.

That's the crux. With an argument in support of hunting reduced to dollar amounts, we risk being out competed by groups far larger than ourselves, the members of which, should they throw in a few pennies each, would quickly sweep our legs from under us.

Somehow, the defense of hunting must include the experience of hunting.

More Gorbatov

Al Gates just gave me this link to a huge gallery of Gorbatov art at his Eaglehunter site, including dogs, large mammals, and falconry. There is even a version of my "Lobo".