Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Look Up - A Family of Falconers
Generation after generation of falconers
© Amanda Kowalski
For Mike Jackson, a firefighter in Washington, DC, falconry is a family affair. He learned the sport of training and hunting with birds of prey from his dad. Now, he’s a father himself, and he works with birds of prey as a way to connect with the natural world — and his kids. He hopes that when they have kids, they'll pass those same lessons and morals and principles down to their kids and keep the generation going.
This project is supported by the Falconer Family of Seattle, the Bobolink Foundation, the Treeline Foundation, and the Peg and Rick Young Foundation.
BirdNote®
Look Up - A Family of Falconers
Written by Amanda Kowalski
Mary McCann: This is BirdNote.
For Mike Jackson, a firefighter in Washington, DC, falconry is a family affair. He learned the sport of training and hunting with birds of prey from his dad. Now, he’s a father himself, and he works with birds of prey as a way to connect with the natural world — and his kids. Here’s Mike:
AJK_RADIO_Draft2.mp3
Mike Jackson: If my dad was still selling drugs, I would probably be a drug dealer. My
dad's a falconer so I'm a falconer. [Music comes up] When he got around those birds, he just changed, like a light switch. I would just see how excited he would be, and I just knew I wanted to be a part of that.
When I became a falconer, I start to see things that I never thought I would see. I started to believe in things. When you’re flying a bird, you know you're not really focusing on everyday life. You're focusing on that moment. Being a falconer, it just brings something different out of me.
[Music comes up here for a beat or two]
Falconry has just taught me be a better dad, better son. Even I can see with me having more patience with my kids; just showing them the same things that my dad show me and just teaching them along the way responsibility. So hopefully when they have kids, they'll pass those same lessons and morals and principles down to their kids and keep the generation going.
[Music comes up and out]
Mary McCann: See the whole video about Mike, the birds, and his family. That’s at BirdNote.org/nextgeneration.
This project is supported by the Falconer Family of Seattle, the Bobolink Foundation, the Treeline Foundation, and the Peg and Rick Young Foundation.
###
Producers: Amanda Kowalski, Ari Daniel and John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
Narrator: Mary McCann
Music: Edited excerpt of the intro to William Thomsen’s Home
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2019 BirdNote October 2019
ID# lookup-01-2019-10-21 lookup-01
