Get into the exciting world of falconry for profit! The Marin, California Independent reports that Indigo Redondo (now there's a great name!), who works for Vacaville-based Wingmaster Falconry Inc., has been hired to use his Saker falcon to help keep gulls away from the trash heaps at the Redwood Landfill.Not to be outdone by California hippies, the Real Madrid soccer team in Madrid, Spain, has hired Guillermo Santalla to fly about a dozen eagles, falcons and owls over the 60-year-old Santiago Bernabeu stadium in order to keep pigeon populations at bay. Madrid's international airport also employs four teams of falcons to scare off pigeons and other birds which threaten the aircraft there.
Then there's the wedding business. Releasing white homing pigeons at weddings is a money-maker for some pigeon fanciers in the right location, but now a white barn owl is being trained to also deliver the rings. What could possibly go wrong here? Nothing!
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6 comments:
More power to them but I am of two minds about working at falconry. What then do you do for fun??
I guess best case scenario is independent wealth and Victorian era leisure time.
I doubt there's any real money here -- maybe enough to cover gas and food. I note that Indigo Redondo is retired, so no doubt this is just a hobby with enough cash benefits to cover gas and medical care for the birds. In the article, it does not sound like his bird knows how to hunt, which is a bit odd I thought. Perhaps it's just that a Saker is a little light to routinely kill seagulls, but still large enough to make them nervous?
My ignorance is complete; I just love money-making schemes with animals. There's no shortage of these things, and I will be posting a few of the really far out ones as a regular feature -- a small harken back to the advertisements that used to appear in the back of National Geographic, Boy's Life and Popular Science when I was a kid. Nostalgia for old foggies.
P.
hi Patrick
The saker is plenty big enough for gulls. Their traditional quarry in Arab falconry is hubara bustard, quite a large bird.
But there are any number of ways to fly a large, captive-bred falcon at birds without catching them. They can be flown heavy and rewarded for basically making a show of pursuit.
Young falcons are in some ways like young house cats, in that they need critial early experience in order to develop as hunters. By denying them good opportunities to catch large birds, falcons may never learn the trick and prefer always to fly around for a hand-out.
I had such a falcon myself once, a hand-me-down from a bird show. He never caught a wild head of game, although he would catch some birds thrown from the hand. It was a futile effort for me, and then later for my friend who was excited to try him (not excited for long after getting him, though).
Hi Guys-
I was out at Redwood Landfill today and Indigo and his Falcon made my $40 dump run extra special. If you were the size of a seagull and you knew Rosemarie (the falcon) to be very protective of her territory (the dump) I bet you wouldn't want to to piss her off and would opt for a day or two at the pond rather than risk those tallons. Just a thought!
K
Hello,
Funny.... I was surfing around and found this article.
Indigo is my dad - no joke. And I can assure you of a few things. He makes a good living being contracted by the landfills. He works a 5-6 day work week. He's vacationing in Mexico as I type this.
The birds are very impressive and I don't like birds. I'll be the first to say, when you are standing next to the bird - its big and intimidating. The friggin' beaks and talons on these things make me nervous enough I wouldn't let my small kids around these things... maybe I watch too much "When Animals Attack".
But I've seen the rabbits these guys kill and they are decent in size - maybe the size of a house cat or bigger.
If anyone would like, I can get more pics of my dads birds and him in action. I even have a copy of a TV show that did a little feature on him.
Take care,
Marcos
All good and send away! We have a lot of hawkers/falconers come here (see blog roll on side). We also have a regular "Get Rich by ...." feature. I have invested in mice milking myself -- $10,000 a quart! I bet your father does better than I do :)
Patrick
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