inspiring

That's right, I'm starting this post out with a picture of a guy basically launching his eagle into the air. Because this post is going to be as epic as this picture. STAY TUNED.

Continuing immediately.

Sometimes when I can't sleep I like to scroll through the raptor or bird of prey hashtag on instagram and see what pops up, since I am clearly obsessed with birds and like to coo at owls and hawks or pretentiously chuckle at mislabeled Mississippi Kites seen in the wild (#owl, um excuse me that is not an owl). Through this habit, I found this person. This truly BAD. ASS. AMAZING. PERSON. I am in awe and totally jealous of his lifestyle. When I saw his first couple of pictures, I thought, "Well that's cool, he flies eagles! Legit."









Like, that's pretty intense. BUT THEN



Don't mind me, I'm just here with my BEARDED VULTURE. I kid you not, it was midnight and I sat up in bed and said, "YOU ARE SHITTING ME" out loud in my darkened room to no one. I was absolutely and completely flabbergasted and in awe. HE IS FLYING A BEARDED VULTURE, THE CLOSEST THING TO AN ACTUAL DRAGON THAT PROBABLY EXISTS IN THIS WORLD. To make these birds even MORE awesome, they are also called Lammergeiers. Lammergeier sounds like some ancient, mythological beast. Which they probably are. 85-90% of their diet is BONE. MARROW. THEY EAT BONE. AND THIS GUY FLIES ONE AND THEN CUDDLES WITH IT.













Not only does he love his birds (I mean, who wouldn't), they love him. It's absolutely clear that there is an amazing bond between him and his birds. I generally look down on people who treat wild animals as "pets"; people who pet owls when the owl is clearly incredibly stressed really aggravate me, for example. But this is different. This man allows his animals to be wild. He flies them daily, allowing them to exercise and to use their wings, a huge part of what they are as birds. These are Golden and Bald Eagles and a Lammergeier, there is no way that they could ever be mistaken as any sort of "pet". But there's a mutual respect. There is a bond that can be seen in these pictures that really plucks at my heartstrings. So I look at these pictures of his Bearded Vulture preening him and the trust he has in this huge, dragon of a bird, and my heart melts.

BUT THE LOVE DOESN'T STOP THERE.









Guess what though, this person doesn't just train huge eagles and vultures, he also has a billion other birds that he hangs out with on a daily basis and has his own adorable relationships with all of them.

A GREAT GREY OWL (this one does live in his house and is admittedly rather pet-like, but for some reason I can't be irritated about it because it is really adorable, even though I really should be against purposely imprinted owls for the sake of being okay with people slash I am...)







He doesn't even wear a glove while working with his owl. He's just trained her to never squeeze his arm, thus the talons never pierce the skin. He even lets children handle her without gloves. Kind of sketch, buuut okay.

Also HORNBILLS. HUGE, MONSTROUS HORNBILLS.







I want nothing more in life than to be able to work with such powerful animals, share their energy and bonds like he does with his birds. It's so inspiring to see these photos, it makes me realize more of what I want in life. I want to work with raptors. I want to educate people about them and their amazing adaptations, and I want to be able to work side by side with them.





(I am fan-girling so hard right now, he says he's in line to adopt a Harpy Eagle in three years. DREAM LIFE)