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Posts
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Replace the only true avatar on BPL with a lower case falcon?
As a young man I made a good living rehabilitating those poor falcons.
those are so rare to actually see in their real habitat! Nice catch, Nick!
I didn’t take the picture. I was a cadet at the US Air Force Academy and our mascot was a falcon. Some of my classmates email great pictures of falcons occasionally and this is the first of this particular species.
During football games at home, the falcon handlers often were the halftime show. It was amazing to watch the falcons soar high over the stadium and then dive to catch the bait provided by the handlers.
We cadets were resourceful and mischievous, especially during football season. We stole Army’s mule and the Naval Academy’s goat, Bill. The coolest prank, I think in 1969, was when we went up to Colorado University and stole their mascot, Ralphie. Ralphie was a buffalo and destroyed the first horse trailer, so we had to commandeer a larger trailer and bring him to Colorado Springs. We gave the buffalo back at halftime. The newspapers had a field day… You see, Ralphie was actually a female and when they brought her back to CU, she was examined by a vet. She was okay, and they also found out she was pregnant. Being an all male school, we got blamed for that :)
Nick, I can’t believe that you Zoomies actually stole Ralphie. Navy’s billy goat I can understand, and Army’s mule (sort of), but a full-grown bison? It would be a bit hard for Army and Navy to get even with you guys. I mean, how easy can it be to capture a falcon when it doesn’t want to be captured?
It was nice of you to give Ralphie back to CU. If CSU stole her, they would probably have had a campus BBQ.
When I was in my late-teens/early 20s (pre-backpacking), I used to herd a wild Mustang.
The Mustang was similar to Nick’s Falcon in that it was composed of metal.
During my Mustang herding days, I was called “Paulie” by relatives and friends (they still do when I visit back East), had a leather jacket and, god help me, a gold chain.
There are no photos documenting this Mustang herding. I plan to keep it that way…
Wow, I’ve heard of these, the Red Tail (light) white speckled tree Falcon.
Very rare indeed, 1st one I’ve ever seen though.
Jack
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