Red-tailed hawk learns to drink from a cup

A freshly (and legally) trapped red-tailed hawk learns how to drink water from a cup.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• falconry
• red-tail
• red-tailed
• hawk
• cup
• starbucks
• training

[rtperch]

I agree! She hated captivity! You know how I could tell? I could tell by the way she'd eagerly leap into her transport box so we could go out hunting. I could tell by the way she'd attentively wait for me to flush a rabbit/squirrel for her to hunt. I could tell by the way she'd follow me in the field when she could have flown off ANY time she wanted to. I could tell by the way she came back at the end of each day to enjoy a warm, safe place to rest. Yup, she really hated all of that captivity.

[RebelElite]

Great now the hawk will learn to go to starbucks

[Vulpinepath]

Reminds me of Frightful from "My Side of the Mountain." :)

[Holyworms]

thats really really rare for a hawk to drink water O.O

[WplusPproductions2]

@thebiznacho The person keeping it is a falconer. Falconer's take their hawks out to let them hunt like they normaly would. If the hawk didn't want to be there it would just fly away the next time the falconer let it hunt. I know of several falconers that have lost a red tail simply because it didn't want to be there.

[jgk381]

@rtperch ok, thats good to know, thanks

[rtperch]

@jgk381 Seeing as the birds are hunting when I take them out to fly, I think it's safe to say they will be perfectly fine should one ever decide to not come back. In fact, I release all my birds back to the wild after they reach sexual maturity and could be out having babies.

[jgk381]

@rtperch Thats good to hear. You know your birds better than I do, but you should also be aware of not making them too dependant on you, if you do fly them, in the case one does fly away that it still has the skills to survive in the wild.

[rtperch]

@jgk381 There's absolutely no reason to keep a perfectly healthy bird leashed up just to say you have a bird, and that's why I fly all of my birds 3-4 times a week. Each time we go flying, they can choose not to come back to me. In the past 11 years, that's never happened. I think they know they've got it made when being tended to by a falconer.

[jgk381]

@rtperch i agree with biznacho if you kept it leashed at all times, but if what you say is true and you let her fly free and it comes back to you, then I have no problem with that. I think all that ppl want is for the bird to at least be given an option to decide for her own.

[tcline614]

@rtperch It amazes me how people jump the gun and say stupid things before actually knowing the truth about something. Almost 90% of these birds die within their first year or 8-9 out of 10, take your pick. Falconers are doing these beautiful creatures a favor as we are only allowed to trap immature passage raptors. Chances are this one wouldn't have made it through it's first winter. They have more than a fighting chance at survival with someone to help them hunt.