This was the most difficult moment in my falconry journey so far. I released Orion last Sunday. Although, it's the end of our journey together, it's the beginning of his new journey on his own, as a confident, successful adult. He's no longer the young, inexperienced bird that lacked confidence and often struggled to catch easy prey. He struggled with squirrels early on, and almost gave up on them. But with some help from me, I showed him that he could do it. I'll never forget hearing him vocalize for the first time after his first squirrel, and he made the most excited happy sounds as if to say "I did it, did you see that?" He gained the confidence and took many during our 4 seasons together. He never loved chasing them, they were too much work and he was smart enough to know it wasn't always worth it. He still got frustrated sometimes but never lacked the confidence. He caught venomous snakes. He took birds out of the air. He once took a dove on a night hunt, that's no easy feat. He dove into cactus for rabbits. He loved to show how tough he was to other raptors, he stole their catches and brought several larger females to the ground. He never backed down. He became a powerful force, he took down many jackrabbits, some over 3 times his size. He only once ever intentionally let one go, one that he grabbed wrong and he went for quite the ride. I couldn't catch up to him as he was drug on his belly for what seemed like forever. If he got a good hold of them, he wasn't letting go. Towards the end of this season he started missing a lot more. It seemed as though he was missing intentionally. I knew what he was capable of. He seemed to want to catch them, but he also knew he didn't really need to. He'd become a bit spoiled. He was also restless and frustrated. For a bird that never once past his first day tried to foot me or show any aggression, he became unpredictable. I didn't really trust him anymore. He had grabbed Kairo one day, also someone's leg. He began screaming this season, and it was terrible. I couldn't even go in the backyard because he'd start screaming if he saw me. He became difficult to manage and I could tell he wasn't happy anymore. He was ready, and he was telling me. I didn't want to, but had to listen to him. You can see in the video, he knew what was happening. He looked at me and saw my emotion and looked off into the distance. He looked down at his bare legs. I believe he knew what that meant. You can see him processing it. I could tell he was nervous, he didn't want to leave the glove. When we hunt he never hesitates to fly away, but this was different. He had a moment where he became visibly stressed but he gathered himself, I comforted him, and he gained the confidence to move away from me. I know I prepared him well, but I'll miss him dearly. We learned falconry together, and there will never be another like him. Fly high, buddy.
#falconry #flyhigh #slay