La Jolla in Flight: Falconry Lessons

Don the glove and feel the power of these winged wonders (or just observe and admire).

LOOK HIGH INTO THE SKY: Staring upwards, towards the clouds, while standing the Torrey Pines Gliderport is not all that unusual. After all, "Gliderport" is in the name, which gives a rather major hint to what is done there, or at least from there, before visitors leave terra firma and head for the air. Hang gliding and paragliding are two popular pursuits at the Gliderpoint, but, on occasion, something else rather wonderful makes a cameo, and it arrives with its own flying apparatus. That apparatus is not humanmade, nor anything that needs to be worn or gripped; we speak of wings, and falcons, and beautiful birds that can leap into the sky, and stay there for as long as they like, summoning humans on the ground below to gaze up in admiration. A lot of that gazing up will be going down on Sunday, Aug. 2 when Obscura Society LA calls upon the beautiful bluff for a morning of falconry lessons, and falconry enjoyment, with along with Sky Falconry instructors. These knowledgeable bird buffs will show those feather fans who've signed up for a lesson the basics of holding out a gloved arm and bidding a falcon adieu as he heads to the sky (or welcoming him back from the sky, which is part of the ancient pursuit, too). Game to try? Then sign up for...

FALCONRY LESSONS... or falconry observation. "(Y)ou'll learn to hold a Harris's Hawk, cast it from your glove, and call it back again." It's a beautiful cycle, and one often seen in movies filled with castles and knights and ye olde drama. But falconry thrives today, and isn't simply a relic of the past or a part of fiction. To learn more about raptors, what they eat, and what we bipeds can do to lend a hand -- gloved if they need a perch or "a hand" in the larger sense, with their conservation and care -- take a look at the Obscura Society LA page or flap your wings straight for Sky Falconry. Whether you're learning or looking on Aug. 2, though, tickets and spaces are quite limited. The views, however, from the Torrey Pines Gliderport are more of the limitless, epic variety, the perfect spot to watch falcons ride the wind.

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