On the Kansas prairie, a master falconer develops a unique bond with birds of prey
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Imagine trying to bond with a wild falcon - living together, even hunting together. NPR's Brian Mann spent a winter morning on the Kansas prairie with a master falconer trying to do just that.
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BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Just after dawn, Monte Markley is gearing up on his farm near Augusta in southern Kansas.
MONTE MARKLEY: This is a bull-riding glove.
MANN: Markley tugs on the bright-yellow glove, which he uses as a falconing gauntlet. He says he fell in love with raptors when he was a kid.
MARKLEY: Local farmer came by one day - I was probably 12 - and he had a hawk in a box. And my mother drove me into the Augusta Public Library, and I got the one falconry book that they had and figured out how to keep this bird alive.
MANN: Markley hunted with that first bird for three years and was hooked. He's now rated a master falconer.
MARKLEY: Come on. Wake up. Come here. Come on. There you go.
MANN: He rouses Storm, his new prairie falcon, from her perch. She wears a leather hood over her head and eyes to keep her calm.
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MANN: Storm is his only bird right now. Markley trapped her wild on the plains near his farm just a few months ago. Sitting on his fist, she's beautiful in a dangerous way - wings the color of dry grass and tree bark, her delicate chest feathers, cream white. But she's a hunter - her curved beak and talons like polished blades.
MARKLEY: When she initially strikes prey, they punch them with their feet or even hit them with their breastbone.
MANN: Markley is actually my cousin, though we haven't seen each other since we were little boys. When he heard I was visiting Kansas, he invited me to join him and Storm for a training hunt. Because his bond with Storm is new, they're still building trust. When she flies today, he says, it's not sure she'll come back.
MARKLEY: Yeah. There's birds I've had, I thought I had it all dialed in, and they take off. You never see them again. It's over - just that fast.
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MANN: We set off walking across a stubbled wheat field. There is a frozen pond in the distance. The wind is fierce, and clouds scud across a vast pearl-blue sky. It's a tense moment as Markley slips off Storm's hood.
MARKLEY: Hey, girl.
MANN: He pauses, then gestures gently, sending her up into the wind.
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MARKLEY: She's probably 4- or 500 feet right now.
MANN: Markley lets her prowl for a bit, wings beating the wind. Then he releases a pheasant for her to hunt.
MARKLEY: Ho. Yo, yo, yo.
MANN: This is the test. Will Storm hunt with Markley, or will she fly away? He runs forward as Storm folds her wings and darts down out of the sky.
MARKLEY: Hip, hip. Hip, hip.
MANN: A quick strike, a violent tussle on the ground and the pheasant is dead. And after a little coaxing by Markley, Storm follows her training. She settles and waits for us, perched patiently on her prey in the silver-brown grass.
MARKLEY: You know, there's really no tether other than that trust.
MANN: The cool thing, Markley says, is a wild falcon that escapes just goes back to being wild. But still, he's clearly pleased, relieved she stayed. He sits next to her in the grass, grinning.
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MARKLEY: Kind of a fussbucket this moment.
MANN: It's remarkable sitting so close to a creature still so wild. Markley rewards Storm with bits of pheasant meat.
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MANN: And she makes contented noises as she eats.
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MANN: Markley says if their bonding continues to deepen, he and Storm could be together for a long time - hunting the Kansas plains for a decade or more.
Brian Mann, NPR News, in Augusta, Kan.
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