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Summer readers make feathered friends
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A golden eagle perches on the arm of its handler, Peter Reshetniak, with the Raptor Education Foundation during program on raptors at the North Branch Library in Silverthorne Monday.
Summit Daily/Mark Fox
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BY LORY POUNDER
summit daily news
Summit County, CO Colorado
July 24, 2007
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SILVERTHORNE - When Anne Price hunts, she prepares with a vest full of necessities, a tracking device and, most importantly, Morticia, a 180-gram Merlin.
She trapped the tiny falcon in Colorado when it was a teenager and the two have been together for five seasons.
"Falconry is pretty much the oldest form of hunting," said Price after putting on an educational program at the North Branch Library. "It is also the most heavily regulated. ... It's not really a hobby. It's a passion, an avocation."
She is the curator of raptors for the Raptor Education Foundation in Denver. And this week, Price, Peter Reshetniak, the president of the foundation, and four raptors made the trip to Summit County for the finale of the library's Teen Reading Program.
Falconry tied into this year's theme, "Mythic Summer," said Janet Good, teen reading program coordinator. So, to reward the readers, not only were they entered to win a Play Station Portable, but they were invited along with the public to the program where they could see the birds up close.
Reshetniak carried a Peregrine Falcon, Red-tailed Hawk, Gyrfalcon and Golden Eagle through the crowd of about 100 children and parents while Price taught them about falconry.
This art of training the birds to hunt for you has been around between 3,000 and 5,000 years, which is why the program is called "Falconry Then and Now," Price said, adding that some of the techniques used today are the same as thousands of years ago.
The Peregrine Falcon was the first to enter the room, accompanied with amazed sounds from the children.
Falcons hunt in "exciting, elegant style," Price said. These birds will fly hundreds of feet above a flock of ducks or other birds and dive at 100 to 150 mph with their toes clenched together to smash the prey. Smaller birds are killed instantly. Ducks and geese will get knocked out and the falcon will then break its prey's neck with their jagged beak, she continued.
The next bird presented was a three-pound Red-tailed Hawk designed to hunt mammals. They can catch a 10- to 12-pound jack rabbit, Price said.
The third bird that amazed the crowd was a beautiful white Gyrfalcon. It's the "Lamborghini, Rolls Royce ... of falcons," Price said. And shortly after, Reshetniak carried in the largest of the four, a seven-and-half-pound Golden Eagle that the foundation took in after it was injured by a car. They can live 50 to 60 years with people and are more common than the Bald Eagle, Price said.
All four birds are used for falconry in the state, but the Golden Eagle is the most rare, she added.
In Colorado, at age 14, teens can become an apprentice to do falconry, but they have to be guided by a master (someone who has eight or more years of experience). And in addition to a sponsor, an application, state exam and inspection of the facility where the bird will live are all required.
Price discovered raptors when she was 12 years old. At age 16, she received her falconry license in California. Later she graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor's degree in environmental, population and organismic biology. And this week, her presentation may have interested some of the excited children to follow her path.
Side (must)
Motivating teens to read
The library's teen reading program "Mythic Summer" came to an end this week with a program on falconry and the grand prize drawing of a Play Station Portable.
About 130 middle school and high school students from throughout the county participated in the program, and each had up to five chances to enter the grand prize drawing based on the hours they read. Also, for every eight hours read, the teens received a book with a mythical theme.
"Teens do read. ... Reading is still alive and well in their world," said Janet Good, the program coordinator, adding that some of the teens love participating for the free books and the grand prize is a "big motivator."
Some of the prizes throughout the years have included horseback riding, a motorized skateboard and iPods, and each year the program that began in the late 1990s has grown a bit, she said. Funding from the county government, Friends of the Library, locals and other organizations make the prizes possible.
"(Reading is) important because teachers have noticed if they don't read over the summer, they lose skills," Good said.
- Lory Pounder
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