Page 11 - Hobe Sound Reflections - May '22

Hobe Sound, Page 11

Book review

The Hawk’s Way: Encounters with eels, dolphins and
With Fierce Beauty piranhas in the Amazon;
was undressed by an
orangutan in Borneo; hiked
By Nils A. Shapiro the trackless cloud forest
“Inches from my face, I of Papua New Guinea to
hold a living dinosaur. radio collar tree kangaroos
“Like his ancestors, the ... and more, all as research
creature I hold on my fist is for her books – when it
a hunter, an eater of meat. came to The Hawk’s Way
His forebears, the theropod she had only to turn to a
dinosaurs, included some friend and New Hampshire
of the most fearsome neighbor, Nancy Cowan,
creatures to walk the earth: one of the world’s most
Allosaurus, Velociraptor, expert falconers, who introduced Sy to what turned out In one of the book’s few black-and-white photos (most are
and Tyrannosaurus. Like to be an experience so profound that it challenged Sy’s in color), author Sy Montgomery is shown with a Harris’s
them, he is a bipedal predator. Like them, he possesses own life-long belief systems! hawk named Jazz on her leather-gloved hand. The photo
large finger bones, and forward-facing eyes bestowing Under Nancy Cowan’s tutelage, Sy spent several appears just below text that reads, “Though Jazz has done
excellent binocular vision. Like them, when he hatched years learning the art of hunting with birds of prey and, nothing more than land on my hand, I feel she has given me
out of the egg, he was covered with down. As with many most importantly, about the intensely fascinating and a great gift.”
of them, his baby down then gave way to feathers. magnificent raptors that one must work with. (No, not
“The difference is, unlike the other dinosaurs, the one work with – rather, that one must work for!) basic hunting techniques of falconry call for wearing a
before me can fly.” And that is the rule – the key to success – that Sy must large leather glove on which the bird perches before it
These are the opening words of Sy Montgomery’s learn very quickly, as the following statements from an takes off on the hunt, there are also detailed procedures
34th book – some of which have become bestsellers opening chapter make clear: for the human’s positioning every step of the way – for
in 25 countries – an award-winning author whom The “Hawks do not play by our rules. You can never example, at one point to keep one’s back toward the bird
Boston Globe has described as “a combination of Indiana assume that a hawk, even one you raised from a chick, in order to protect one’s own eyes.
Jones and Emily Dickinson” because of her remarkable will forgive your mistakes – sometimes a single error Sy is immediately taken with the wonder of these
adventures facing some of the world’s most dangerous ruptures the relationship forever. A hawk will not come to extraordinary birds of prey. We learn in her absorbing book
wildlife around the globe – and then telling her stories your rescue if you’re in trouble. A hawk will not comfort many fascinating facts about the various kinds of hawks
to readers in an informative, sensitive writing style that you if you are sad. What a falconry hawk will do, if you and other birds of prey, and there are 16 pages of beautiful
reflects her deep understanding of, and caring for, all the do everything right, is allow you to be their hunting color photographs accompanying the text.
creatures with whom we share this world. partner – ‘the junior partner’… for the hawk, with its Gradually, Sy’s awe and respect for these raptors grows
But The Hawk’s Way is very significantly different from exquisite vision and lightning responses, is always the to a level near obsession, and she considers becoming a
most of Sy Montgomery’s other books in two respects: superior hunter ... If you do everything right, the hawk falconer herself. She has fallen under the same spell that
While Sy has been chased by a silverback gorilla in will allow you to be its servant. And for this, the falconer has captivated humans as far back as 2000 B.C. when
Zaire; hunted by man-eating tigers in India (which was is profoundly grateful.” men on the Mongolian steppes first partnered with these
the subject of a National Geographic TV special); studied With long, sharp talons, such raptors as hawks, falcons hunters because of their killer instincts, blazing speed,
octopuses in their natural habitat; was bitten by a vampire and eagles are capable of easily ripping through flesh hooked beaks and razor-sharp talons that enabled them
bat in Costa Rica; tracked the elusive snow leopards and bone, and if angered by a mistake on the part of the to attack their prey – other birds or such small mammals
in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia’s Gobi; worked in human with whom a hunting bird is “working,” it has been
a pit with 18,000 crawling snakes in Manitoba; swam known to attack even the eyes. For that reason, while the Book Review on page 12