I have a strong interest in becoming a falconer. Or, as the proper word is for one who hunts with hawks, Austringer. I have two years until I hit Minnesota's minimum age to begin an apprenticeship, fourteen.
But you know what's weird? Two years ago, a large female redtail hawk perched on the railing just outside the downstairs window. I still remembered every detail of that bird, and we haven't seen another hawk since.
Until three weeks ago.
First, a redtail flew overhead with a mouse that was still shrieking. A week or two later, another redtail (maybe the same one) dived onto something in the (very game rich) swamp/marsh behind my home.
And today, something very, very dark colored went into the olive tree not even thirty feet from me when I was outside reading a book. It was much, much too dark to be a red-tail- it was a solid, unbroken nearly-black grey, unquestionably a raptor. I think it was a Northern Goshawk- rare in the Minnesotan metro area. I walked toward the tree and got within ten feet until I flushed it out- a smallish raptor, about twice the size of a kestrel, flew off towards some two-three hundred-yard-away trees.
Wish I had an apprentice falconer's license and another license to trap hawks, along with a nice Bal-Chatri trap and a rat for bait- could've seen what that falcon really was.
So when I get a red-tail when I turn fourteen, I'll probably make another blog to document my adventures with him/her. This blog will probably still get occasional update.
Until next time,
Motaki
