Page 18 - Boca Club News - May '22

Page 18, Boca Club News

The Arts

Book Review...

“The Hawk’s Way: Encounters with Fierce Beauty”

By Nils A. Shapiro With long, sharp talons,
“Inches from my face, I hold a such raptors as hawks,
living dinosaur. falcons and eagles are
“Like his ancestors, the creature capable of easily ripping
I hold on my fist is a hunter, an eater through flesh and bone,
of meat. His forebears, the theropod and if angered by a mistake
dinosaurs, included some of the on the part of the human
most fearsome creatures to walk the with whom a hunting bird
earth: Allosaurus, Velociraptor, and is “working,” it has been
Tyrannosaurus. Like them, he is a bipedal predator. Like known to attack even the
them, he possesses large finger bones, and forward-facing eyes. For that reason, while
eyes bestowing excellent binocular vision. Like them, when the basic hunting techniques
he hatched out of the egg, he was covered with down. As with of falconry call for wearing a
many of them, his baby down then gave way to feathers. large leather glove on which
“The difference is, unlike the other dinosaurs, the one the bird perches before it takes off on the hunt, there are also In one of the book’s few black-and-white photos (most are
before me can fly.” detailed procedures for the human’s positioning every step of in color), author Sy Montgomery is shown with a Harris’s
These are the opening words of Sy Montgomery’s the way—for example, at one point to keep one’s back toward hawk named Jazz on her leather-gloved hand. The photo
34th book—some of which have become bestsellers in 25 the bird in order to protect one’s own eyes. appears just below text that reads, “Though Jazz has done
countries—an award-winning author whom the Boston Globe Sy Montgomery is immediately taken with the wonder of nothing more than land on my hand, I feel she has given me
has described as “a combination of Indiana Jones and Emily these extraordinary birds of prey. We learn in her absorbing a great gift.”
Dickinson” because of her remarkable adventures facing some book many fascinating facts about the various kinds of hawks
of the world’s most dangerous wildlife around the globe—and and other birds of prey, and there are 16 pages of beautiful care for as protected pets—it is a decision that would have to
then telling her stories to readers in an informative, sensitive color photographs accompanying the text. be reconciled with an acceptance of the law of wild nature:
writing style that reflects her deep understanding of, and caring Gradually, Sy’s awe and respect for these raptors grows to “Hunt hard. Kill swiftly. Waste nothing. Offer no
for, all the creatures with whom we share this world. a level near obsession, and she considers becoming a falconer apologies.”
But “The Hawk’s Way” is very significantly different from herself. She has fallen under the same spell that has captivated Whether to become a falconer is not a decision Sy makes
most of Sy Montgomery’s other books in two respects: humans as far back as 2000 B.C. when men on the Mongolian lightly. You will have to read the book to find out—but you
While Sy has been chased by a silverback gorilla in Zaire; steppes first partnered with these hunters because of their won’t need a raptor to hunt down a copy. This month is the
hunted by man-eating tigers in India (which was the subject killer instincts, blazing speed, hooked beaks and razor-sharp official publication date, and with the Sy Montgomery name
of a National Geographic TV special); studied octopuses in talons that enabled them to attack their prey—other birds or “The Hawk’s Way” should be available everywhere.
their natural habitat; was bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica; such small mammals as rabbits, squirrels, voles or even small *****
tracked the elusive snow leopards in the Altai Mountains of dogs larger than themselves, in the air or on the ground—and Only an author with the skill and heart of Sy Montgomery
Mongolia’s Gobi; worked in a pit with 18,000 crawling snakes rip them to pieces. can relate all of this in a slim, 80-page, compact (5-1/4” x
in Manitoba; swam with eels, dolphins and piranhas in the For a lifelong vegan whose own home life includes a 7-1/2”) volume, the same charming format as her recently
Amazon; was undressed by an orangutan in Borneo; hiked the wonderful border collie and a roost of “little ladies”–the five published “The Hummingbirds’ Gift.”
trackless cloud forest of Papua New Guinea to radio collar tree hens that she and her author/historian husband have raised and
kangaroos...and more, all as research for her books—when it
came to “The Hawk’s Way” she had only to turn to a friend and
New Hampshire neighbor, Nancy Cowan, one of the world’s
most expert falconers, who introduced Sy to what turned out
to be an experience so profound that it challenged Sy’s own
life-long belief systems!
Under Nancy Cowan’s tutelage, Sy spent several years
learning the art of hunting with birds of prey and, most
importantly, about the intensely fascinating and magnificent
raptors that one must work with. (No, not work with—rather,
that one must work for!)
And that is the rule—the key to success—that Sy must
learn very quickly, as the following statements from an opening
chapter make clear:
“Hawks do not play by our rules. You can never assume
that a hawk, even one you raised from a chick, will forgive your
mistakes—sometimes a single error ruptures the relationship
forever. A hawk will not come to your rescue if you’re in trouble.
A hawk will not comfort you if you are sad. What a falconry
hawk will do, if you do everything right, is allow you to be their
hunting partner—‘the junior partner’…for the hawk, with its
exquisite vision and lightning responses, is always the superior
hunter...If you do everything right, the hawk will allow you to
be its servant. And for this, the falconer is profoundly grateful.”

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