December 2011


I got the peregrine into the air yesterday – finally. She is late coming out of the moult; she just doesn’t much care for the hot weather of July and August. Part of the preparation for the first flight is putting new batteries in her transmitters. When I turn her loose, she wears 2 small radio beacons that allow me to track her if she ranges out of sight. I made a short videotape (is there a word for a linguistic skeuomorph?) of the transmitter test with my cellphone and as I reviewed it prior to upload I noticed that the recorded transmitter test beeps were eliciting a strong territorial response from the male Amereega pepperi. I’d play the clip and he’d start calling, tailing off a couple minutes after the last beep. Too good! I captured the yelling:

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Poison dart frog calling at a recording of a falconry transmitter test – noteworthy even in this weird house. And not to go too meta, but he’s calling again as I prep and review this post.

I mentioned (quite a while ago) my desire to tear around on a motorized 2-wheeler with kurzhaar, teckel and drilling. This DKW promo film from 1927 fits the fantasy.

Via Ride the Machine.