Good afternoon Mik; Lovely to hear from you - we _love_ the Westweald folks! Fantastic products, well-made, and awesome support from Brian and his lady! Would you let your friends and social-media contacts know about today's episode? We'd love some help in getting the word out to everyone about today's topic! Hope you're having an incredible day - please stay safe! Best, Jo

Good evening 4 englishlies; Great to hear from you again - the Feathered and I hope you and yours are safe and well. I'm having a wonderful time bringing new content to the channel - so glad to know you're enjoying the material. :0) We'd absolutely love it if you'd share our latest episode with your friends and colleagues, so please invite others to stop in too! Take care, Jo

Hello TheHawkNerd; Lovely to hear from you today - thank you so much for your great feedback! :0) We'd love some support with getting the word out - would you share the link on your social-media portals? Have an awesome day, Jo

Hi there Richard - thank you for stopping in today, the Feathered and I hope you and yours are safe and well. :0) Best, Jo

Good evening Gonzalo; Thank you for watching today's episode - we're so glad you enjoyed it. :0) Please share the link with your friends and Falconry community - have a great week! Best, Jo

Good evening Alessandro; Lovely to hear from you - thanks so much for stopping in, and thank you for your support! I hope you and your family are staying safe. :0) Best, Jo

Good afternoon Eryn; Thank you for your enthusiastic support - we _definitely_ appreciate it! Finding a reputable mentor can be more challenging than most people would like...I hear a lot of stories about individuals putting up needless or 'artificial' barriers to enthusiastic novices all the time... This being said, I'd encourage you to consider volunteering at a local rehabilitation centre or animal-sanctuary where they take in injured birds-of-prey which cannot be re-released. These organizations routinely school these raptors into becoming "animal ambassadors" (an admittedly problematic moniker, to be sure), and usually engage in educational outreach programming with young people. Handling wild raptors - or being part of the process of caring for them - will teach you a great deal about the true nature of a bird-of-prey, and will certainly open your eyes to what goes into stewarding them. If you're fortunate enough to live near someone who is a respected mentor, you'll have a great deal more to offer them as a student if you've "paid some dues" by working with a raptor rehabilitation centre beforehand. I'd encourage you to contact your local Fish & Wildlife branch to see if they have a list of individuals who are respected teachers, but you could also reach out to groups like "Women & Wings" on Facebook to see if any of those individuals can steer you in the right direction. I honestly can't say enough about training with Andy Hinton at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, or with Jemima at the ICBP in Gloucestershire. It'd mean a trip to the UK, and studying for a week of hand's-on training in pursuit of your LANTRA certification. You'll learn so much, and you'll also learn _good_ habits right out of the gate. :0) Finally, I occasionally offer my "Introduction to Falconry" course to a small handful of students from time to time. I had planned to offer a session this May, but owing to "world events", its been postponed to the back end of August/early September. If you'd like to learn more about my course, please visit my website here for a course description: thefalconlady.com/course-2-day-introduction-to-falconry/ If you have any questions, or if you'd like to sign up for my program, please contact me via the "Contact Us" portal on my website, or through my business email addy. :0) I hope this offers you some useful information on how to get started Eryn - thank you again for stopping in to the channel, and please - share the link to today's video with your friends and social-media connections! Best, Jo

Good afternoon Gregory; That is a *_fabulous_* idea! Thank you so much for the suggestion - I'll definitely do that next time I'm down in Victoria, or (if I have time), I'll stop into the wharf in Steveston and see if any of the fishermen will swap some brass swivels for the stainless-steel ones I've stockpiled! (lol) Thanks so much for watching today's episode - we'd love it if you'd help us get the word out, so please share us with your friends and fellow Falconry enthusiasts! Best, Jo

Good afternoon Gillian; Thank you for the lovely question - my dear friends at the Hawk Conservancy Trust (located in Andover, UK) were mentoring me in eagle-handling after I took the LANTRA course with Jemima Parry-Jones in 2014, and that's when I met 'Orion', the Bald eagle I'm chill-axing with in the photo. :0) Andy Hinton, the curator for the HCT, had 3 Baldies at the time, 'Cheyenne', 'Danesbury', and of course, 'Orion'. 'Cheyenne' is the *biggest* female Bald eagle I've ever seen! Just huge!!! She and 'Danesbury' perform in the centre's "Valley of the Eagles" flying demonstrations, where they fly in from over 1 mile away to the music from "1492: Conquest of Paradise". Its an incredibly powerful, deeply moving and wonderful performance...if you can ever get over there to see it, you'll be so glad you did. :0) I hope you and yours are safe & well, Jo

The Falcon Lady I love Orion he one handsome guy

@@16frankieboy Even more amazing up-close! :0) Jo

The Falcon Lady I know I normal for there at least 2-3 times a year

...Absolutely! I'll put this on the "upcoming hot topics" list. :0) Jo

Good afternoon Kiki; Thank you for your great question - I certainly do have some suggestions for several excellent books you could delve into, (now is *certainly* an optimal time for it with everyone hunkering down at home). :0) The closest thing we have to a "textbook" for Falconry is Phillip Glasier's "Falconry & Hawking". Phillip was, of course, Jemima Parry-Jones' father, and was a phenomenal teacher in his day. There are a few things (like encouraging the use of a drag-creance) which I disagree with in the pages of his book, but overall, its an entirely readable/relatable resource to start from. The "bible" of Falconry comes to us from King Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, and is titled "The Art of Falconry". This is our definitive source of guidance - its been tested many times over the last few decades, and no part of it has ever been found 'wanting'. I've routinely mined out information from Frederick's great work when I've struggled with issues with my Feathered-ones...its an _expensive_ book, so you may want to contact your local public library to see if you can obtain a copy on inter-library loan. Alternatively, a good used copy shouldn't put you back more than $150 - $200 depending on its condition. I highly recommend www.alibris.com/ as the go-to resource for finding used copies of books in good repair. I'd also suggest "Feathers" by Thor Hanson - you'll love this book! It is a lot of fun to read, and an incredible resource for learning everything you'd love to know about feathers. Let me know when you're ready for some more suggestions, and I'll be glad to point you in the right direction. I too enjoy learning for its own sake, so I completely understand where you're coming from... :0) Have an awesome day! Jo

Good afternoon Jess; Great question...I honestly couldn't tell you (definitively) whether the Elk-skin glove has been veggie or chrome-tanned. Best thing I could suggest would be to touch base with Stanislav and ask him what his process is - please let us know when you get a reply! Best, Jo

@@TheFalconLady Well, I didn't email Stanislav, but I did email Mike's Falconry and apparently, all of their gloves are veg tanned. Go figure lol

Good evening Spottedleaf Firestar; Great to hear from you - thank you for inviting my input on this. Its my feeling a larger (medium-length) gauntlet - regardless of whether you're working with the smaller raptors, or the medium-sized ones, is perfect for the job. I'd definitely encourage you to purchase two gloves, though, one for feeding from, and the other for 'manning' related work. This will extend the working-life of your gauntlets - trust me, you'll thank me for it one day. :0) Now, on to the other aspect of your question... I do not encourage novice Falconers to involve themselves with Red Tails *or* Kestrels. Neither of these are "beginner's" birds...I don't know who decided either of these are suitable options for a new Falconer, but its a grossly uninformed idea in my experience. In the first case, a Red Tail is an aggressive, powerful, dominant being which can deliver serious injury to the uninitiated; a mentor/sponsor cannot be with you every moment, and an inexperienced person can get into trouble _quickly_ with an RT. In the second case, a Kestrel is a fragile being with a fast metabolism. Its *frighteningly* easy to underfeed one of these little hunters...they can go down in condition too quickly, and without meaning to do them harm, one could kill them with ignorance (in the true sense of the meaning of the word). So... I would strongly - *_strongly_* - encourage you and whomever your sponsor ends up being to secure a Harris Hawk, or perhaps a Lanner falcon for you to team up with. The Harris, of course, is indigenous to the US, and a reliable companion to develop the skills of hunting with. Likewise, its been my experience Lanner falcons being a "relatively slower" (as if 120mph were ever "slow" - but compared to a Peregrine they are!) mid-sized hunter are a good Feathered being to learn swinging-the-lure with. You'd _really_ have to go out of your way to endanger either of these milder-tempered raptors, and you'll learn everything needed to equip you for graduating to a Red Tail, or - if you're curious about working with the more petite birds-of-prey, a Kestrel, Merlin, or Sharp-shinned hawk. Thanks again for stopping by the channel - we'd love it if you'd share the link to this week's episode with your friends. :0) Best, Jo

The Falcon Lady Thanks for all the advice. I will definitely plan on getting two gauntlets. I’ve heard that about both birds and can understand why they wouldn’t make good start birds. Unfortunately I don’t think I have much of a choice with my first bird. I will keep in mind the other two though. I love all your videos, they have been such a good resource for me.😊❤️😊

@@TheFalconLady I just saw this post and wanted to say that California only allows Kestrels and Red-Tails for apprentices- I wholeheartedly agree with you, Jo, about those being very inappropriate for apprentices for all the reasons you mention! I would hope that more enlightened individuals might lobby for a change there. Harris's Hawks are widely available in captive-breeding programs, as well as in the wild, at least here in Arizona, and can make awesome beginner birds! I am a General falconer and fly a 3-1/2 yr old male Harris's hawk on cottontails - although he has taken two jackrabbits! Love your videos, Jo!!

Cheryl McLaughlin get and train a crow first ( in cal.)