About "Us"
Dave is a breeder of many different and varied species of birds. He obtained his breeding license in 1981, and first raised a male Harris' hawk in 1983. At last count he has raised too many to count on my hands :) He is a retired teacher of science from New York, with over 60 hours beyond a masters degree in various science degrees. Being retired, he can spend all of his time with the birds, which is needed round the clock.
Dave first became interested in birds of prey when he first helped rehabilitate them in 1971. In 1975, he obtained his own rehabilitation permit and continues to rehabilitate birds of prey today. His research in rehabilitation lead to falconry, and he received a master falconry license in New York in 1976, one of the first 13 who were issued permits in that state, along with Heinz Meng and Tom Cade. These 13 master falconers were the nucleus of all falconers now in New York state.
In 1982, he moved to Suffolk, VA, where he continued his activities while his wife completed her pediatrics residency at the Portsmouth Naval hospital. In his 4 years there, he became president of the Tidewater Raptor Society, an affiliate of what was the Norfolk City Zoo, now the Virginia Zoo. The Tidewater Raptor Society was primarily focused on rehabilitation and raptor educational programs at the zoo. He was president for 2 years, until his wife was transferred to Camp Lejune, NC, in 1986. He lived in North Carolina for 4 years where he continued to rehabilitate and breed birds of prey.
In 1989, he moved to the Fredericksburg,VA area, where he continues to live and produce birds.
Dave has helped form the New York Falconer's Association, the North Carolina Falconer's Guild, and the Virginia Falconer's Association. He is a charter member of all three. Since leaving teaching, he has given hundreds of education programs featuring birds of prey. He has delighted and educated audiences with Clyde his Harris' hawk, Sudan his Egyptian vulture, Archibald the eagleowl , Rodan the Guiana crested eagle, Connie the Andian condor, and lanner falcons and peregrine falcons. He still does educational programs from time to time, and now includes his male golden eagle, Washoni.
In October 2001, Dave came out of retirement to manage his wife's pediatric office, P.L. Pediatrics, P.L.L.C., located in Fredericksburg, VA. While he works full-time, he still continues to raise birds and goes home in the middle of the day to take care of his flock. He has recently taken up flyfishing, and can be found flyfishing in the Rappahannock River during the spring shad, herring, and striper runs. He also takes baby and trained birds to the office where he has a small weathering area where patients and parents can observe them and receive a short educational lesson with their trip to the doctor.
Dave has flown and trained nearly all of the birds he possesses. As of this writing (2001), he is flying his male golden eagle, Washoni, and Clyde, a male Harris' hawk.
Since Dave is working full-time, he is best reached on the phone between 1900-2100 hrs (7 and 9 pm) EST.
I'm a nut who has worked with computers since I was 2! I first played with an Atari 800XL (still have it), and learned Atari BASIC. From there I moved to a AMD 386DX 40Mhz, to an intel Pentium 133MHz, and eventually a dual PentiumII 400MHz which I built myself. I learned C, C++, Python, and a bit of Java, Eiffel, and Scheme, in addition to multimedia (graphics and video) tasks. I also spend much of my time helping Dave breed his birds, and other bird activities.
When I was 5mo. old, I was carried in a backpack on 4 hour sojourns while Dave hunted with the first Bonnie and Clyde Harris' hawk pair, and Ginger, his Viszla. When I was four, I was able to help Dave artificially inseminate his birds and able to handle some of the smaller birds :) I first lure-trained a lanner when I was 7. Currently I fly a male red-tailed hawk, but spend most of my time with Bonnie, a female Harris' hawk. I've helped Dave train many of the birds at the facilities, and have helped him do many of his lectures and appearances, including an appearance when Jim Fowler was promoting his book on Larry King Live.
I am currently attending the University of Rochester in NY, and majoring in biomedical engineering, with a planned concentration in cell & tissue engineering