The workshop was incredible and for any would-be Ontario falconers I highly recommend attending it before taking even another step. I learned a lot about the work that is required and about everything from housing to feeding to common medical problems. I also learned that five falconers in a room equals 15 different opinions about pretty much everything from which bird is better for ducks to what type of swivel is most appropriate for a particular type of perch.

What was really beneficial for me and I'm sure for all the other newbies is that everything that was said was pure and unvarnished truth warts and all and it gave a lot of folks some serious sober second thought. We started at 9am and by lunch out of the five at my table only two of us were still interested in pursuing it and from what I was hearing around the room that was about the norm. Watching a bird crap on the floor and devour what looked to be a very bloody half of a rabbit turned a couple of queasy stomachs, and listening to a harris squawk for an hour made people think long and hard about if they wanted that on their property I'm not sure if that was intentional but it did make an impression on the crowd that these aren't charming little canaries. I also recall a woman asking if there were boarding facilities for birds of prey like there were for horses but I don't believe that question was even entertained.

I think what really hit me the most is when they took out a red tail that wasn't trained and you could see how hard it was to just get the bird to perch on the fist and you could see that while watching a trained bird makes it all look easy it is a long hard road just to get it to stop trying to scratch out your eyes.

All in all a very worthwhile experience I'm still eager to get started AND it cut down on my competition to try and find a sponsor.