A Life with Birds

by Ronald Stevens, Henry Tyler

Overview

A Life with Birds chronicles this astute observer's falconry pursuits, from collecting falcons in Africa and his high-flying falconry exploits across his beloved Irish moors to his pioneering falcon breeding. A real pioneer in falcon breeding, this enigmatic man of old values and new insights brought the art of falconry into the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780888393180
Publisher:	Hancock House Publishers
Publication date:	12/27/1995
Pages:	156
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Ronald Stevens was born in england and privately educated. Not wanting to join the family business, he became overseer of his father's cattle farm in Worcestershire. There he pursued his interest in ornithology and cultivated a large collection of waterfowl, which was ultimately moved to an estate in Shropshire in the 1930s. However, the estate was requisitioned for military use in World War Two, and the collection was destroyed. Following this, Stevens dedicated his life to falconry, a sport that completely captivated him; few falconers developed greater or more enduring reputations for their passion and commitment. In 1956, to find solitude and to escape the overgrowth of bracken on the english moors, Stevens moved permanently to Connemara in County Galway, Ireland, where he lived until his death in early 1994 at age 91. Described as a quiet, kind man, gentle by nature and always somewhat embarrassed by his fame, he was an able and painstaking tutor in falconry to those who requested his help. He maintained an enormous correspondence with falconers throughout the world and was always welcoming to those who traveled to his isolated home. Stevens authored four books: Laggard, The Taming of Genghis, Observations on Modern Falconry, and the biographical, A Life With Birds.