On Friday, October 18, Ipso Gallery hosted the opening reception for their art exhibit, “Mystic Hollow. ” The exhibit features a variety of paintings, drawings, and sculptures of owls. Three live birds of prey were in attendance during the opening!
The owls and kestrel at “Mystic Hollow” were all found injured in the wild, and, during the process of being rehabilitated, became trained by falconers. Although they are trained, they are not tame– they don’t like to be touched by people and still behave mostly like wild birds of prey!
They were presented by The Falconry and Raptor Education Group, which is based out of Roslyn, S.D. and hosts many educational events.
They describe their mission on their webpage as follows:
We are here for the education and conservation of birds of prey through the interactions and information to the betterment of humans to influence all generations.
These beneficial birds are an essential part of our environment and ecosystem.
As a sole proprietorship and veteran-owned small business, we are able to accommodate our program to many requests. Birds of prey are sentient beings and not pets or performers. These animals are treated with the utmost care and respect and ALL situations will be held at the discretion of the Owner/Falconer/Handler.
Falconry, also called Hawking, is the sport of taking wild quarry with trained birds of prey. Whether they are falcons, hawks, owls or eagles, they all hunt naturally in their wild state by instinct. A falconer uses their skill to hunt in a partnership with a bird of prey, training them to return.
While the sport of Falconry has been around for thousands of years, it is still considered very rare. Through all different cultures, generations, the many variations in hunting style, laws of the land, different species native to certain regions and the terrain available to hunt, it remains the same universally.
The horned owl and kestrel are native to this region, while the screech owl is native to the West Coast, but all three can hunt locally. They also live longer in captivity than in the wild, and Frigga, the horned owl, will most likely live for another 30 or 40 years! They were all remarkably calm, considering how many people interacted with them during the reception.
It’s very unusual to see these types of birds up close, and it was an amazing experience to see them in a suck a unique space!