Channel 5 on Falcons

[Guest Gareth Rankin]

falcon show on ch 5, started at 19.30

[ALF]

0-60mph in 2 secs they just timed 1 catching a madman jumping off a cliff at dover with bait in his hand!!

[ALF]

sh** they just timed 1 doing 204mph when they threw the bait off a bridge and it just dived after it :'( :'(

[gangster]

:'( :'(im watching > >

[Roundo]

Totally amazing, me and my boys are glued to the telly.

 

What chance do our pigeons stand??

[gangster]

:'( :'( :'( none > > >

[gangster]

> > jeez   hope it hits the cliff > >

[gangster]

> > and there smart too > >

[ALF]

just shows what our birds are up against when a peregrine is above them : ??) ??)

[blackjack]

The only way i have found to fly against percy is to fly open hole and know his feeding and breeding cycle and watch when the corn stubble is being ploughed in. If you see him about use agricultural rockets 10 bob each usually they do not like it up em Mr Mainwaring.

[jimmy_bulger]

where do you get them from jack

[ALF]

BUT BLACKJACK WE CANT USE THE ROCKETS WHEN WE'RE RACING : ??) ??) ??) ??)

[blackjack]

You can get Agricultural rockets from any good agricultural supplier like midshires farmers etc say you want them for scaring crows. Alfred i can only speak for myself i live in an area with a big raptor pop ie percy ,tommy and ultimate falcon. . It helps

[ALF]

EVERY TIME I LET MY BIRDS OUT JUST NOW THEY ARE HIT BY THE SPARROWHAWK BUT WHAT I'M SAYING MATE IS THAT THEY WILL NOT HELP US IN RACING ;) ;) THE ROCKETS THAT IS : : ;) ;D ;D

[jimmy_bulger]

thanks jack.

alf if you scare the fkers off at the home end you have more to send to the races.

jimmy. ;D

[blackjack]

Alf is she coming over the the back of the loft try putting a length of green garden netting at the rear of the loft but have it 3 feet higher than the fronts highest point it will make her attacks harder she will have to adjust her attack going over the netting it gives the birds time to escape.

[ALF]

ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE THEIR MATE IS THERE IS A RUDDY BIG TREE RIGHT AT THE BACK OF MY LOFT IT MUST BE 50FT HIGH AND THE *expletive removed* ATTACKS THEM OFF OF IT > > > :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

[Guest]

Wondered if it was a sparrowhawk you've got Alf?

 

Still learning about 'hawks' myself of course, but thought sparrow was the one that launched surprise attacks on the birds on the ground (usually from tree cover) while the peregrine hit them from above when they were in the air?

 

Also heard of the two-peregrine attack, one above the flock which dives into the flock in the air, scattering them in all directions, and one beneath it, which goes for the birds that dive for cover after the strike from the one above?

 

I'd try reflectors (CDs) facing towards the direction of attack, and the netting if you can get it up, maybe the anti-pigeon plastic stuff which costs pennies draped over your side of the tree itself?. Joe Murphy recommends playing the Eagle owl cry CD, and John H? who used to write for the BHW recommended rockets, as the previous post does.

 

Agree with the post that these are all 'loft' deterrents and no help when the birds are out there training and racing. Basically relying upon the birds own instinct and skill to avoid being taken. As I've posted before, our pigeons are decended from the rock dove which lives cheek-by-jowl with the peregrine, so there is likely to be something called 'genetic memory' there on how to avoid being taken. The pigeons need to be out and about to keep that skill alive, except after an attack of course, when I'd keep them in for at least the next day when it is reckoned that the hawk will be back at roughly the same time as the previous day's attack.

 

I see my own birds watching the skies above and watching the behaviour of the wild birds around them. So they know, if not from experience, by instinct at least that there's something out-and-about out there.

 

Have also posted elsewhere seeing an amazing piece of footage on TV of what looked like a hawk taking a  pigeon mid-flight, until the footage was slowed down and stopped. Then it showed that miliseconds before the hawk hit the pigeon, the pigeon 'stalled' in mid-air, fell backwards out of and below the hawk's strike-path, leaving the hawk diving after fresh air.

 

So where did the pigeon learn that trick from?

 

So don't think its all doom-and-gloom. Birds might be learning new tricks.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Got my A and B races from 166 ruined with a bloody Cooper today, I have a nice drop from the A just coming down to land, wooooooooooosh straight over my head Cooper hits birds and they freak and go sky high, he hit one as we saw feathers flying, they must have circled 8 or nine minutes when I got 5 in and I still had some flyig round high to scarred to come in when the B birds arrived home 1/2 hour later, B birds joined A birds and took me quite some time to get first three B in.

 

Thought I would be at the bottom of the sheets, but lost the first race by six minutes and the B by 5, so Mr. Cooper robbed me of maybe firsts in both races and a possible win for Jimmy white. with 2702

 

As a consolation I had 1 2 and 3 in the sprint race. but what is more important I got them all back, eventually

 

[Guest TAMMY_1]

THAT'S A PITY HYACINTH,  AND ABOUT THE HAWK PROGRAMME IT GAVE A BRIEF GLIMPSE OF TWO OF THEM PASSING A BLUE PIGEON OVER AND THE COMMENTATOR ACTUALLY SAID IT WAS A PIGEON BUT IT WAS BRIEF , WONDER WHY THEY NEVER WANTED TO SHOW MUCH OF THAT