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A Subaru Built for Eagles

Back in November, Martin & Scout visited Findlay Subaru of St. George to test that new Subaru Foresters were still big enough for Scout’s travel box.

On November 18, we began a fundraiser for the new foundation vehicle.
Funds were raised as of January 6th and on January 7th, Martin
picked up our new 2020 Subaru Forester!

🙌Big BIG THANK YOUS to EVERYONE who contributed!👏

Now we reveal the rest of the story — the last run of the old Subaru, the visit to Findlay Subaru of St. George to pick up the new Forester and once again ambush Dave, their general manager. They gave us an AWESOME deal!

Martin also shares some information and further upgrades to the new Forester and Scout’s first ride in his new wheels.

Hawking with Belle

GoPro video of Martin and Belle out Hawking. While out wondering the desert, Martin talks about:
1:00 – Second Hunting Season
5:00 – About Consistent Training/hunting tips
12:00 – Belle after Jack Rabbit
19:00 – About the falconer’s role
21:00 – About Belle’s Schedule
24:00 – About Falconery terms
25:00 – About Belle getting tired and group hunting
28:00 – About not letting the bird get too tired or discouraged
35:00 – About how rabbits are raised and why there is a falconry season
40:00 – Hood on and heading back to the car

Barn Owl Gave a Good Fight

A Barn Owl arrived late afternoon on November 7th, 2019 from Utah DWR. We’d received calls about this owl throughout the day, and expected the arrival. Martin immediately examined the condition of the owl. After a first meal, the owl was taken to a small dark and mostly quiet chamber. It was near Belle the Harris Hawk’s outdoor chamber and she was not very quiet.

For two days, Martin checked on the owl frequently. The owl made it through the first night and was fed again the next day.

Despite showing some signs of recovery, when Martin checked on the owl early in the morning of November 9th, the owl had passed.

Opening Presents, Updates, Backroad Drive & Conversation

Happy Holidays ~ Merry Christmas ~ Happy Hanukkah ~ Happy Ordinary Day ~ Happy New Year ~ Joy ~ Peace ~ Love!

We saved the video of our latest unboxing for Christmas Morning! Thank you to everyone for so many gifts throughout the year – so many people have helped in so many ways from the Amazon Wishlist to a view of one of our videos. It all matters, it all helps. We’re nearing 50,000 subscribers and views on our videos have topped 10 million!

At about 4:50 Martin and Susan include thanks and update on the Founders’ Birthdays Fundraiser.

Around 6:15 Martin talks about all the events going on, including an upcoming trip to Lake Havasu City, Arizona where he will host two Birds of Prey of the West shows at the Aquatic Center on January 16th & 17th.

At 9:30 Martin gives a quick update on rehab animals.

At 15:30 Susan shares the list of people who have sent us Gift Certificates from Rodent Pro!

At 21 minutes in, we switch to a backroad drive and a conversation. The drive is from the Garmin Dashcam of the trip back down a windy dirt road from the C-Overlook. It was from November 9th after we released a Golden Eagle. The trip up and the release was included in this video:
A Eagle’s Second Chance

The conversation included was from July 30th and covers various topics including:
21:48 – Martin asked about the balance between wildlife and urban sprawl
24:35 – Martin asked if wildlife can exist in controlled environments
27:43 – Martin asked about the differences between pets and wild animals
36:15 – Martin asked to define conservation as he sees it

Raptors Need Their Tail Feathers

* PLEASE BE ADVISED *
* This video contain images and information that may be disturbing to some viewers.
* If you are sensitive to sad tales, please do not watch this video.

This video includes two raptors, a Red Tailed Hawk currently at our rescue center, and older footage of a Golden Eagle from early 2018.

The Red Tailed Hawk may have been struck by a car and temporarily stunned. However, before the hawk was brought in it appears it was injured in an additional way. From the damage to feathers on one wing, Martin thinks that wing was grabbed by someone who held the hawk in order to rip out the tail feathers. All but two tail feathers were taken.

This is something that Martin sees once or twice a year. It is very cruel and painful to the raptor. The Red Tailed Hawk will have to stay with us for quite awhile, possibly a year, until new feathers grow in.

Another similar incident happened to the Golden Eagle who arrived injured and missing all but one tail feather.

More information about the Golden Eagle can be found here:
About three minutes into the video, Slow Down for Eagles

For Eagle FAQS, please visit:

Questions about Eagles (FAQ)

Hawking with Belle | Sept 4, 2019

GoPro video with Martin & Belle out hawking on the fourth day of the season. This is non-edited for those who would like to follow the whole experience.

** Spoilers **

Here’s a timeline of actions & topics if you’d like to skip around

00:00-2:47 – getting Belle out of box and tracking system set up
2:47 – 5:19 – talking about the season so far and getting Belle physically fit
5:50 Jackrabbit chase 1
6:00 – 7:00 Talking about hunting area
7:10 Another chase
7:45 – 10:15 Talking about the problems with sage brush and rabbit tricks
11:00 – 12:30 Talking about having only a general direction of area of cover, let the bird lead.
12:30 – 13:00 About “tidbits”, rabbit launch
13:00 – 15:30 About jesses and when to keep them and take them off
16:20 – 17:00 About using food control for motivation
17:00 – 18:00 More about hunting area
19:00 Most fun as falconer, smallest bird to get the job done
20:00 About upcoming hawking for larger jackrabbits in Wyoming
24:30 About Cedar City, Vacations & Falconry
28:30 About Hawking with Tee Perch
29:30 About Harris Hawks hunting in groups
33:00 Couple good chases
36:40 About a rabbit trick
37:50 About Belle losing track of still rabbits
40:15 About hawking with a dog
44:30 About Belle’s weight and the importance of it
47:30 Issues with birds and the effect of the falconer’s attitude
1:00:15 Cottontail Close call
1:00:40 More about Belle’s weight
1:02:30 Wind picks up
1:08:40 About VORs & pilots
1:10:00 About end of hunt and when to put hood back on
1:15:00 About previous male Harris Hawk Thumper

Birds of Prey Presentation | Findlay Subaru

To kick off the Subaru Share the Love Event, Martin brought Scout the Golden Eagle, Belle the Harris Hawk and Helen the Peregrine Falcon to the showroom of Findlay Subaru!

Please enjoy the short version of Martin’s Birds of Prey presentations including audience questions throughout.

Golden Eagle Bestie Part Deux!

🎉🎂Today is Martin’s Birthday! We’ve put together some excerpts and outtakes of Martin and his birds just doing their thing.
If you’d like to join us in celebrating his big day, here are some suggestions to make him a happy birthday boy:
🔹 Contribute to the Founders’ Birthdays Fundraiser: https://www.gowildlife.org/bday
🔹 Send an email message: martin@martintyner.com
🔹 Please Help
🔹 Send Rodent Pro Gift Certificates
🔹 Buy Martin’s Book
🔹 Support us through Amazon Smile
🔹 Leave a comment
🔹 Like this video!
🔹 Share this video with everyone you know and as many strangers that you can without getting arrested
🔹 Slow down for eagles!
🔹 Watch Golden Eagle Bestie part one if you missed it or watch it again!

An Eagle’s Second Chance

After a two month stay, a very big, strong and fat female Golden Eagle was released back to the wild. She arrived on August 4th as a young and very skinny eagle. She was found by a falconer who gave her some food then called Martin to care for her. After an initial examination, Martin thought she would just need to stay a little while to eat a lot and regain her strength before being released for her second chance to make it in the wild.

It turned out she needed a little more time, staying just over two months. On November 9th, Martin caught her from the large chamber she’d shared with the juvenile white belly bald eagle, and put her in a kennel to take her up to the C-Overlook for release.

Though we normally try to organize a public release, today we let the camera be the means to share this release with our growing online audience. Martin took the opportunity to answer a lot of common questions we’ve seen in emails and comments.

FAQs in this video:

9:00 – About the “hood”

9:30 – About weight and “keel” bone

11:38 – About the young eagle and her parents relationship

12:20 – Why it is so hard for Birds of Prey to survive

12:48 – About her rehabilitation process

13:55 – About her weight and second chance

14:30 – About where she will be released and why that place is chosen

15:30 – About how she will survive her first five years

16:20 – About her time of release and weather conditions

17:00 – Do we train them?

17:30 – About banding and birds returning

19:50 – Why we hold public releases

20:50 – Why don’t we just release the eagle out of the box?

23:30 – About the eagles feet

23:47 – Differences between Golden Eagle and Bald Eagle as juveniles and adults

25:20 – Effect of Martin holding the eagle

26:00 – Why doesn’t the eagle fight Martin?

27:30 – What the eagle may do just after release