“Hey! There are so many stories about just the species of big eagle?”

After listening to Yue Feng’s series of popular science lectures, Ye Jianjun was completely shocked by Yue Feng’s extensive knowledge of birds of prey.

Yue Feng grinned and said proudly, “Of course! Big eagles and kites are the two most commonly used falconry species by falconers in our country!

The only historical records can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty! The experience accumulated by so many generations has been passed down to this day, and I only know a little bit of it! “

“What about the peregrine falcon? Are there any differences in appearance or subspecies? We have to choose the right bird to drive away birds at the airport if we have any!

As long as we can pass the acceptance assessment, we can conduct a local pilot project in the early stage. If everything goes well, we can ask the military to pay for it and build an artificial breeding base later!”

When Yue Feng heard the words that the military was taking the lead in setting up an artificial breeding base, he was quite excited.

In the past, although the use of raptors to drive away birds was also used in some large and small airports in the country, there was no widespread consensus. As for an artificial breeding base, it seemed that there was one in the northwest region, but its development had rarely been made public at the social level.

Yue Feng’s passion for birds of prey lasted for almost half of his life. Even after 2015 when national policies tightened and he could no longer play with them, he still obtained information through forums, the Internet and other channels.

If he can push this industry towards a healthy and standardized development in this lifetime, Yue Feng is willing to contribute his own strength even if there is not much personal benefit.

“Peregrine falcons, I know a little less, but there are certain differences between the different subspecies!

The one we caught yesterday is a subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon, which is relatively common. In some places in the south, there is also a subspecies with a completely black head, which the older generation calls the Big Blackhead!

In addition, in places such as XJXZ and Inner Mongolia, there is also a kind of pseudo-peregrine falcon, which has beautiful light colors.

From the perspective of falconry, the one with the strongest overall strength is the common subspecies of peregrine falcon.

Puya sounds simple, but his strength is not simple.
The breeding grounds of this type of peregrine falcon are usually on coastal cliffs and other places. They are large and bold. Female peregrine falcons can grow to about 2.3 kg. Even large pelicans, cranes, seagulls, etc. are on their prey list. “

“Even peregrine falcons have so many different species?? It would be great if we could catch a few Puya peregrine falcons! We don’t have any sea here, I don’t know if there’s any chance!”

After listening to this, Jun was fascinated and even began to look forward to it.

“The Russians have occupied the areas of Sakhalin Island to the north of us, so there should be these peregrine falcons breeding there!

The Songjiang waters are very representative waters in the north. Many birds rely on the ecology of these waters to overwinter, and naturally there are many birds of prey!

In terms of rarity, this purple eagle might be even rarer than the common subspecies of the peregrine falcon.

They are all winged birds of prey, and they have few natural enemies in the wild. If you are lucky, you still have a chance!”

Yue Feng’s words more or less aroused the expectations of Jun Ge and Xiao Tao.

But when it comes to eagle hunting in the mountains, the outcome is often not determined by one person’s will.

The morning started off pretty well. Before 7:30, three eagles had been caught. But for the rest of the day, not a single eagle was caught.

The three brothers stayed in the hawk shed for the entire day. Every two hours, when they felt bored, they would go out for a walk to check on the condition of the nets.

But there was nothing, which greatly reduced the brothers’ joy of catching a top-notch eagle in the morning.

As it was getting dark, the three brothers went down the mountain with their catch of the day, found a state-owned restaurant that was still open in the town, ordered a few dishes and had a proper meal.

While eating, Ye Jianjun started talking.

“I felt that the eagle was easy to catch in the morning, but it didn’t catch any during the whole day, which made me a little worried. Tell me, what happened today?

It’s impossible to say that it will take ten days or half a month to catch a few decent eagles. By that time, the big eagles of the man and woman next door will have escaped, and we still haven’t caught any eagles. I can’t afford to lose face!”

Yue Feng calmly picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork and stuffed it into his mouth: “That’s definitely not the case. At worst, we still caught a pigeon tiger!

Just make sure the little eagle does not lack water in the first three days, and then feed it with a hat on. Catching eagles during these days can be considered as advance training!
As for the question you asked about not being able to catch an eagle during the day, there are actually many aspects that affect it!
The main reason is that there is no wind today. If it were windy, flocks of eagles would fly over, and it would be possible to catch three or five in a day!”

“Three or five a day?”

“Yes! Last year I caught two eagles, a chicken hawk, and two kites in one day!
Judging from the topography, the resources here in Dawang Mountain are better than the eagle hunting grounds in our hometown, so it shouldn’t be a big problem!”

“Then I’m looking forward to your performance tomorrow!
My ideal situation is that I can catch three or four peregrine falcons and bring them back. Not only will I train them myself to participate in the inspection, but I can also let the brothers on the ground crew learn the skills of falcon training together!”

“Don’t panic, there will definitely be opportunities later!!”

After finishing their dinner with Yue Feng’s confident consolation, the three brothers, who had been squatting all day, returned to their residence and turned off the lights early to rest.

In the next two days, Yue Feng’s three members got up before dawn and went down the mountain before dark. Their daily routine was quite regular.

Yue Feng’s overall judgment was relatively accurate. Not opening the kettle during the day was a low-probability event. In the next two days, the average rate of one target falcon per day increased, and many common birds of prey such as chicken hawks, kites, and common buzzards were released.

On the fifth day after arriving at Dawang Mountain, at around three o’clock in the afternoon, another peregrine falcon from that year was caught in the net.

Including the pigeon tiger caught on the first day, the number of peregrine falcons in the hands of Yue Feng and his companions has reached four, two pigeon tigers and two duck falcons.

“Hey, did you see this big treasure? Take a look, you two, what’s the difference between this one and the one we caught a few days ago?”

Wearing leather gloves on both hands, Yue Feng controlled the large duck falcon that was caught in the net and carefully untied the net wire.

“This one is much darker in color, and the pattern on the breast is different! The color of the nose wax is different too!” Xiao Tao said as he looked at the big treasure in Yue Feng’s hand.

Yue Feng nodded and deliberately showed the eagle’s claws: “Look at the color of the claws, light blue with white, the same color as the nose wax! The nostrils are thicker, the feathers are more colorful, and the size is only one size larger than yesterday.

This eagle is estimated to weigh 2.23 jin. This is the big Puya I told you about! ! “

Hearing Yue Feng say this, the calm Jun Ge couldn’t hold back: “Is this Pu Ya? She’s so beautiful!!”

Yue Feng instructed Xiao Tao to quickly find the hat and put it on the eagle, and then said: “Now there are four eagles, that should be enough! Let’s pull up the net and go home?”

“Go back! The conditions in this town are limited. The food and sleep are not good! This job of hunting hawks is not comfortable either!”

“We have food and drink, that’s good! Let’s work together to pull out the net pole and go down the mountain!”

“okay!”

……

Soon, the poles of the three sets of self-trapping nets were all dismantled and put away. The three brothers took the nets, lures and today’s catch, and went down the mountain humming a little tune.

They drove back to the town guesthouse and loaded all the captured eagles into the car. Then the three brothers followed the same route and headed straight for the air force base.

On the other hand, while the two Yue Feng brothers drove out to catch eagles for five days, Li Wenzhe and his father also made some progress in their eagle training at the airport guesthouse.

After four whole nights of training the eagle by changing the operator but not the eagle, the hostility in the pale yellow eyes of the eagle had obviously been mostly dissipated.

Old Li has stuffed a third hemp shaft into the eagle to scrape off the oil. After some operation, the big eagle can now fly seven or eight meters away on the small square with the string hanging.

Another call was completed, and Li Wenzhe was very satisfied with holding the big eagle and pecking at the whitish eagle food in his hand.

“How’s it going, Dad? Today I can run ten meters high. I should be almost ready to become an eagle, right?” Li Xiaolei trotted over to meet his father, panting, and said excitedly.

“Not yet. It’s not yet ready. This eagle has a stubborn temper and is hard to handle!” Li Wenzhe shook his head.

“It flew over here just after I shouted a few times! Isn’t that enough?”

“Call the eagle, and come as soon as you hear it! Now the eagle is still a little hesitant. I will go back later and let the next one see tomorrow. I don’t believe that an eagle can turn the world upside down!”

……

While the grandfather and the eagle were chatting, the big eagle standing on their arms had finished eating the eagle food that Lao Li had fed them. Then the grandfather and the eagle carried the eagle towards the guesthouse where they were staying.

Before we even entered the house, we saw Ye Jianjun driving his car and parking in front of the door of another row of guesthouses.

The staff got out of the car, opened the back door and went down to get something. When the hawk-catching pigeon was placed on the ground, the pigeon flapped its wings a few times. Li Wenzhe noticed several people next to the car.

“Xiao Lei, take the eagle stand into the house! I’ll go take a look!” Li Wenzhe handed the five-foot eagle tie to his son, and then strode towards Yue Feng.

Here, the two brothers Yue Feng were taking things down from the car, including a bundle of nets, poles and other things, and five hawks wrapped in hawk coats.

Especially these peregrine falcons, they have powerful beaks and cannot be put together. They need to be gathered one by one.

“Hey, where did you come from? Did you catch an eagle?” Li Wenzhe walked over slowly, glanced at it casually and asked.

Yue Feng turned around and looked at Lao Li and said calmly: “Yeah, I went out for a walk and caught a few little eagles!”

Li Wenzhe lowered his head and glanced at the hawk wrapped in Yue Feng’s coat, and said with a curled lip: “Why catch this useless green swallow? It’s just a thing that eats meat and produces feces. In our village, there are plenty of these things, and no one wants them even if they are given for free!!”

“Just raise it for fun! Don’t we need some young eagles to practice with? How’s your big eagle? Is it working?” Yue Feng said perfunctorily and handed the last one to Xiao Tao.

“It will be almost done in three days. I will take you with me to drive the sticks, so that you can also see the elegance of a big eagle working!!” (End of this chapter)