Wary of Robins
African Pygmy Falcon
About a week ago, Jim and I went to the zoo. While we were there, we met the magnificent gentleman in the picture above. He is an African pygmy falcon, and I’m pretty sure that sparrows larger than he is routinely visit our bird feeder.
While we were chatting with his handler, the falcon—I didn’t catch his name, but I think it was something like “Hugh,” so he’ll be Hugh here, today—kept anxious watch around him. I thought he might be wary of the humans, but this wasn’t the case at all. Hugh’s handler explained that Hugh worries a lot about robins. It seems that even though Hugh is half their size, the local robins know a raptor when they see one, and are certain that any moment he’ll fly off on a bloodthirsty rampage in which no robin will be spared.
Hugh does not appreciate this acknowledgement of his perceived ferocity, especially since a robin is way out of his class as potential prey. Hugh dines on insects, small mice, and smaller birds. He’s very swift, reaching speeds of forty-five miles an hour and diving at up to twice that. He brakes using his tail feathers, so he doesn’t transform himself into a puff of feathers and optimism when he hits his target.
I would have been excited to see Hugh at any time, but since one of the characters in Wolf’s Search is a small falcon, I found this up close and personal time very useful. True, Farborn is a merlin, so he’s a bit larger than Hugh, but who am I to scoff at serendipity?
For those of you who are saying to yourself, “Why does the name Farborn sound familiar?” I’ll add that Farborn appears as a character in Wolf’s Blood. His role is small but crucial. In Wolf’s Search, he’s still coming to terms with the ramifications of those events.
Now I’m off to continuing grooming the manuscript of Wolf’s Search… Catch you later!
