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Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I can't believe this is a real thing:
http://www.parahawking.com

[YT:d2f836f684]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1bYUE-db4 [/YT:d2f836f684]

Posted: Jan 23 2012 04:11 pm

Parahawking.com wrote:

Birds of prey have a natural instinct to conserve energy wherever and whenever possible. During a flight, a bird will burn more energy than it would if it was just sitting in a tree, this means it has to eat to replace the used energy. Sometimes birds will travel long distances to find food. To conserve energy whilst flying, birds of prey use thermals. Thermals are rising currents of warm air that are created by the sun heating the ground. Birds can gain height and travel long distances without flapping their wings by using thermals. Paragliders also use thermals when they are flying and will often use wild birds to guide them to where the thermals are. Our trained birds are no different, they will find the thermals in order to stay aloft and conserve energy whilst flying. We as paragliders harness their ability to conserve energy by following them as we fly.

Our birds need to be rewarded for guiding us into the thermals. During the flight the passenger will place small morsels of meat onto his gloved hand, the birds will come and gently land on the hand to take the food, and then gracefully fly away to find the next thermal. A perfect symbiotic relationship.

That's actually quite interesting.

Posted: Jan 23 2012 04:46 pm

That's nowhere near as interesting as Skydiving Archery.

Posted: Jan 23 2012 05:37 pm

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

It reminds me (a little) of a rescued bald eagle who was hurt so badly be couldn't fly anymore. His rescuers rigged up a sling for him on a glider like that, and took him flying all the time. (I did always wonder if that didn't confuse the crap out of him though; I'm sure birds don't have quite the romantic attachment to flying that we do.)

Posted: Jan 23 2012 06:01 pm

It would have been great if the hawk ripped those peoples' eyes out and they had to make a blind landing.

Title: Electric Sex Pants Joined: Dec 30 2009 Posts: 199

This might sound stupid, but I don't get why it's special xD

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

Klimbatize wrote:

That's nowhere near as interesting as Skydiving Archery.

Somewhere the script-writer for Van Helsing 2 just got an erection.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

That made me smile. I'm more surprised the hawks didn't start freaking out.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Boonjovi wrote:

This might sound stupid, but I don't get why it's special xD

Paragliding in general is pretty awesome.

Falconry in general is pretty awesome.

Paragliding while practicing falconry is the combination of two awesome things. Not to mention that the locations where you would do these activities are beautiful.

If you really can't see why this is in fact special you fit into at least one of the following categories:

* Internet Troll
* Depressed
* Genetics of a serial killer
* Victim of a paragliding accident
* Victim of a bird attack

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

GPFontaine wrote:

Boonjovi wrote:

This might sound stupid, but I don't get why it's special xD

Paragliding in general is pretty awesome.

Falconry in general is pretty awesome.

Paragliding while practicing falconry is the combination of two awesome things. Not to mention that the locations where you would do these activities are beautiful.

If you really can't see why this is in fact special you fit into at least one of the following categories:

* Internet Troll
* Depressed
* Genetics of a serial killer
* Victim of a paragliding accident
* Victim of a bird attack
* Victim of a bird attack whilst paragliding

Fixed

Posted: Jan 24 2012 09:06 pm

Does "bird pooped on my windshield while driving" count as a bird attack?

Posted: Jan 24 2012 09:36 pm

Eh, that's more of a bird related mishap.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Beach Bum wrote:

Does "bird pooped on my windshield while driving" count as a bird attack?

Nope... isn't that supposed to be lucky?

Joined: Mar 08 2011 Location: Ohio Posts: 131

Can I go Para"Parakeet"ing?

Posted: Jan 25 2012 12:22 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

Beach Bum wrote:

Does "bird pooped on my windshield while driving" count as a bird attack?

Nope... isn't that supposed to be lucky?

I think it is supposed to be lucky if it poops on your head, in which case my step-brother is a lucky bastard because he had it happen to him twice in one day when we were camping once. Second he walked outside from showering the first time he got hit again.

Posted: Jan 25 2012 09:30 pm

All I know is that sea gulls are jerks, I've seen enough pictures of them swooping in and stealing ice cream from people at the beach.

Posted: Jan 26 2012 01:21 am

Bird-related. I'm not really a fan of country/bluegrass but check things out starting at 1:27.