By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Jonathan Wood is unbelievably grateful that he was able to turn his falconry hobby into a career known as the Raptor Project. This week, the master falconer and his wife, Susan, are sharing with Wood County Fairgoers the beauty, skill and stories of their parliament of owls and cast of falcons and hawks in the Birds of Prey show.
To look into the staring eyes of Oliver the big, beautiful Eurasian Eagle Owl or feel the massive flapping wings of Vinny the Vulture is an experience like no other. And to hear the tales of Rio the Crested Caracara (falcon), Denali the rare Aplomado Falcon and Savannah the squawking Redtail Hawk opens your eyes to the world the couple shares in shows across the country.
The birds are lined up on perches across the stage, checking out the audience with watchful eyes, squawking at times, ready to impress.
Jonathan, a falconer since he was 12, relayed the two simultaneous moments when he was growing up that prophesized his future.
He and a friend were given permission to visit a lighthouse on New York’s Fire Island. After they climbed the 222 stairs to the top, he stood on his tiptoes and peered into a porthole and saw five baby falcons tucked inside. He carefully took one of the babies and trudged down the stairs only to decide he didn’t know how to care for a newborn. He hiked back up the stairs, set the bird back into the porthole and vowed he would return in a few weeks when the bird was a little older.
That time never came, because he and his friend no longer had the connection to get permission to access the lighthouse. “I blew my chance,” he thought at the time.
As fate would have it, weeks later, he was walking along the beach, and something caught his eye up ahead.
“As I got closer and closer, I stared at a rusted axle sticking out and something was looking at me,” he recalled. “There was a baby falcon, with down still on its back, panting. I took off my shirt, caught the falcon and ran home with it.”
With no one to teach him about caring for and training a falcon, he found books that started his drive to learn more about these great, fascinating creatures.
At about the same time, he was reading “My Side of the Mountain,” a story by Jean Craighead George, about a young boy who runs away from home, goes to the Catskills in New York and learns to survive with the help of a falcon that he trains to hunt for food.
“That was the catalyst for me to become a falconer,” Jonathan said.
He even met the author, which resulted in he and Susan becoming characters in George’s book “Frightful’s Mountain,” the last of her “My Side of the Mountain” trilogy.
Along the way, he discovered he could make a living by taking the show on the road to fairs, conventions, schools, and other events. Though he has had several careers, including a journalist, consultant and builder, he was happiest when showing his birds and talking about them and his conservation project to raise and protect the magnificent creatures.
Now 32 years later, with 20,000-plus shows in 49 states, movies, TV shows and commercials, Jonathan and Susan still enjoy educating people about their bird world.
During one of the shows on Tuesday, he was most pleased to introduce Rio, Tundra, Denali, Jet, Zorro and Rusty—all part of the falcon family— to the hometown crowd of Bowling Green Falcons. He had done his research to know that the university team mascot is the peregrine falcon, providing the perfect opportunity to talk about his beloved falcons.
A young boy in the stands got to see Rio, a Crested Caracara, up close when the falcon walked near him during the show.
Twins, Micheala and Caitlin, were excited to have the opportunity to don a falconer’s leather glove to hold Denali, an Arctic Falcon, and Jet, an African Lammer Falcon, only to feign disappointment when Jonathan said, “You can’t take them home with you.”
Making noise in the corner was Savannah, a Redtail Hawk. “Savannah is designed kind of like a small eagle,” he said as he introduced her to the audience. “This is an unusual Redtail Hawk because the ones in your neck of the woods don’t look like this.”
The dark-colored Redtail is from the western part of the country, he explained.
“Notice how the bird’s checking out the sky for other predators that might be out there? Their eyesight is 10 times as sharp as ours. She can actually spot a rabbit about two miles away,” he said, jokingly cautioning parents to keep their small children close so they didn’t become a hawk’s meal.
The birds are outfitted with bells, air tags and GPS units when they are flying free in the sky. “I’ve got to keep track of them and be able to hear them when they’re coming in,” he explained.
Showing the pair of rare Aplomado Falcons, Matagorda and Zorro, Jonathan talked about their dark stripe under their eyes, called a malar stripe. “You’ve seen baseball players with a black stripe on their face? It’s the same for the birds, that stripe helps reduce the glare from the sun.”
The rare falcons had disappeared from the United States in 1951 and was gone for 50 years. Since then, there has been a focus on breeding the birds in captivity to repopulate the species. Jonathan has been part of that effort.
Raptors are birds of prey that catch things with their feet. All but one of the birds in the show are raptors. The non-raptor is the big, ol’ Vinny the Vulture, “the most macho bird in my entire show,” he said. “I love this guy because on hot days, he comes with his own air conditioning,” demonstrating Vinny’s wing-flapping skills on a young audience member.
Vinny’s cousin, Pinhead, is very famous, Jonathan said. He earned a Tony Award for a performance in a Broadway play and shows up in Google searches.
He also introduced his “night shift” birds, the owls, including Oliver the Eurasian Eagle Owl and Susan’s baby, an adorable, tiny 11-year old Screech Owl.
When the birds aren’t at fairs and events, they are with the couple in their New York or Texas homes.
The show is in the Family Fun area of the fairgrounds, south of the grandstand, and near the Petting Zoo and sealion show. Daily shows are usually scheduled at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. The educational and awe-inspiring demonstration is a can’t-miss show at this year’s fair.
