Falconry: Are merlins the best falcon?

[@adaptiveplangrazingbrasil4715]

That's is so Great I looking for to see more videos of this Merlin falcon

[@Joshmod]

Really excited about this, thanks for documenting your process

[@AnaIvisRamos-l1n]

Muy lindos e increíbles yo bueno uno aquí en cuba

[@ap-nu3ck]

I look forward to seeing your progress!

[@Честно_к_счастью]

Thank you for sharing your priceless knowledge. Wait for the video about true eagles.

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

Just got it done. It will go live and public on December 30th

[@Thewelshhawker]

Great vid Ben 👍

[@ismewhat1234]

Hope you have a wonderful blessed week 🕊

[@suziescholten]

Trapped a merlin this fall as well. We think it is a large male. Would love to see videos of your training process. Your girl is a beauty.

[@IgnisNPignis]

I'm not a falconer yet, but my sponsor has talked very highly of merlins. I would love to fly one at some point.

[@facundobinelli6077]

amazing bird, thanks for sharing!

[@RaptorGirlkathy]

She is doing very well, Ben!! Was noticing her mad, crazy, Long Toes!! What you say, about Merlins, makes me wanna try one...I am just starting to work, with a Peregrine, for educational purposes...Still manning, with it! Thank you for your information, and I would like to see your step-by-step progress, with this bird. Good Luck. She will do great, under your training!!! Happy Holidays, stay well, and cu soon!!

[@1o1carolina53]

Great channel

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

Thank you so much

[@gregoryhowe8286]

I always wanted to name a falcon " Rula " . Like Rula of da skies?

[@partsguy9423]

Nice!

[@gjerrildkro]

Your bird is dialed into your confident voice.

[@ricusmate]

Mim. Merlin's nemesis in the sword in the stone.

[@GURWINDER_RAI]

Very informative content 🎉 Do you have red headed merlins breeder in the US ? Would love to see comparison of both red heads and american merlins . Thanks 😊

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

I know there are at least one or two breeders. I’ve seen them occasionally in circulation here. Captive bred of course. I was told by someone who has worked with both of them that regular. Merlin’s were much more agreeable in dependable and easy to work with. But that is just from his one experience.

[@GURWINDER_RAI]

@benwoodrufffalconry appreciate that 🙏 thanks

[@robinsmith1091]

The Merlin’s we get here in San Antonio Texas look a lot like the Suckleyi, so I know what you mean about them not being only in the PNW. Although I do watch an older Raptor enthusiast SheepRugly on KZbin and he gets these beautiful sucleyi in his area in WA.

[@theheresiarch3740]

In Florida we're allowed Merlins as apprentice birds instead of kestrels. I don't know anybody who's actually taken that option, though. Almost everybody just flies red tails on squirrels and nothing else for most of their falconry career, so that's what sponsors are comfortable teaching, so that's what apprentices do, and so it goes.

[@Brisco-rl8nc]

I've trapped a couple of passage black merlins that I flew free in five to seven days. One came seven feet to the fist in the house on the second day when she was still very fat at 240 grams. I took her outside on the third day with a creance. Within a few minutes she was coming 70 feet with no hesitation. She never veered off as she approached me, as passage raptors often do in early training. The next day I took her to a school ground and she was coming right away from well over 100 feet even though she weighed 230 grams--heavier than many wild-trapped merlins. I could have flown her free right then, but I elected to wait an extra day so that I could affix a transmitter to her. Oddly, she didn't s how much interest in the lure until I reduced her weight to 190 grams. I've never had a bird learn so fast.

[@lamaspacos]

We should read scientific papers. The highest accurated measure for a speed of a peregrine was 197km/h, after several atempts stooping to a falconer. In nature, on the other hand, we have the measures (not top values, we guess): 140km/h for booted eagle and peregrine, 110km/h for a kestrel, 156km/h for a duck. All of these speeds are in descend flights.

[@ΦΩΤΗΣΣΠΑΝΟΣ-η2π]

Hi ben.i have a 7 months sparrow hawk and started to lose feather and wings.is something wrong with my hawk????

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

There could be a few things. It could be West Nile virus. But there is also the possibility that if the bird has an increased light all the time, it could induce molting early. Sometimes we do that intentionally, if we want to fly a bird in the summer, we keep it under artificial lights all the time, so the Bird’s body thinks that it is summer, and it molts in the winter. It could be that if the bird is kept under light all the time, it is starting a reverse molt

[@benwoodrufffalconry]

It could also be a dietary thing. If the bird was not eating very nutritious food for a while, and then suddenly got very nutritious food, that can start a late molt

[@Sardonic_Cynic]

she looks like a Tinkerbell: 'Though she be but tiny, she is Fierce'

[@1000EyesAnd1]

Beautiful specimen Ben. Not you the Merlin. 🤣

[@yvonnerogers6429]

👍🏻

[@lynsiewebb8274]

A knightly bird ;)

[@michaelgerowjr.1299]

Marla

[@gjerrildkro]

Learn to fly a "Hang glider".