Walk: Around a little; Hood, Chiropractic
Distance: 1.5; 2.5
So, the other day, a juvenile peregrine falcon! landed on the rail just outside Ciwt's bedroom window. To say this is a rare event in a San Francisco residential neighborhood is beyond an understatement. So Ciwt watched it transfixed until it flew away, mercifully without taking one of the small local birds with it.
Then, probably because she has exceeding few associations with large birds of prey, her mind went to the falcon 'partner' of one of the main characters in the Hawaii miniseries. When she saw that bird come home to its ancient Japanese master, she thought it was some sort of production gimmick to make the character more distinguished or something. This based on her assumption that falconry was a sport of the British Isles, and English people had yet to arrive on the series' fictional Japanese shores.
Well, it turns out the Hawaii producers were right on, and Ciwt was way off. By at least a millenium. Though no one can say exactly when it began, falconry is a prehistoric means of hunting with birds of prey. Stelae around the Black Sea depicting falconry date to the 13th century BCE. And prehistoric cave paintings illustrating falconry may be even older.
The practice slowly traveled East from Arabia to Asia and Island countries before European Silk Road merchants, adventurers and Crusaders began taking falcons and falconers with them on their returns home in the middle ages (ca. 500 - 1500 CE). At that point falconry began flourishing among the privileged classes in the British Isles.
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