That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for December 16, 2021

Every evening after dinner, Mr. Wolf would take his falcon for a walk.

Big Stan found a subtle way of flipping everyone the bird.

Joseph was fed up with all the Amazon drones constantly buzzing past his house, and so now he was going to do something about it.

Mortimer (the hawk) was tired of being treated as nothing more than a killing machine. What about his hopes and dreams? What about what HE wanted? He didn’t want to go out and kill those pigeons, day after day. He was a vegan, for cripes’ sake!

/// Joseph Wolf is shown here with his “hobby.”

(That’s what falcons were called by the snobby.)

When its wings were unfurled

it soared o’er the Old World,

but in size it was slight— almost squabby.

/// These small raptors were fiercer than sharks;

their sharp eyes seemed to shoot off hot sparks.

The new German nation

had less exaltation

since these hobbies were trained to hunt larks.

/// A great animal-artist of fame

Wolf, ironically, had a beast’s name.

Though he looked like Saint Nick,

and was lively and quick,

to Joe, reindeer were only big game.

The originator of “Stupid Pet Tricks,” Dieter Letterman.

when Uncle Horace have someone “the bird” he did it with class!

Doesn’t anybody recognize him??? That’s Godric Gryffindor!

Claude A.Falconer-a man who has learned the hard way about “starting from scratch “.

When you’re keeping a bird on a tether

It’s an easy decision whether

To buy the thin, rotten

Gauntlets of cotton

Or to splurge on the good ones of leather…

You’re familar with the saying, “A bird in the hand”, Gwendolyn?

Ok, I know I’m nearsighted. And probably astigmatic. But at first I thought he had a lunch bag poised on his wrist.

nobby bobby with his hobby in the lobby…

“I don’t think the squirrels are going to be stealing from the bird feeder anymore.”

A bird in the hand is worth….

Mortimer repossessed all the Christmas presents.

They both look so happy; a pair-a-grins there.

After his falcon attacked one of the elves, meetings with his brother were always hawkward.

Nuthin could be apter than a raptor with his captor in the mor-or-nin’….

I wonder if he ever got teased for having such a small bird.

Wanna buy a hawk?

If you’re rich enough, yoy can persist / In keeping a hawk on your fist / While you blandly deny / All the good reasons why / We insist that you cease and desist!

Falcons are hard to draw.

Superhero THE HAWK never managed to supplant the public’s preference for Sherlock Holmes. The Hawk’s failure to gain an audience for his exploits ultimately led to him having to eat his mascot thus effectively killing his shtick. Literally.

Falcon and the Snowman.

The falcon was no parrot, but surprisingly it could do a spot-on Sinatra.

.

“Egrets… I’ve had a few….”

Joseph Wolf (This Hobby of Mine): 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Wolf.jpg 

(best viewed using Google Chrome which can automatically translate most webpages if necessary) has info and links that point to more info about this painting. As I pointed when this was first used, it is actually by (George) Lance Calkin.

A slightly larger strip image is shown by (⌘- or Ctrl-) clicking the image at 

https://thatispriceless.blogspot.com/2011/01/masterpiece-444.html 

I have added a comment there (awaiting Mr. Melcher’s approval) pointing to the correct artist’s info I used to point to here. First work attributed to this artist used here (2 times total, including this Throwback Thursday repeat). 

https://www.gocomics.com/that-is-priceless/2012/09/27?comments=visible 

has the first time this was used here (the 17 hyperlinks in my comment there have been deactivated, and the line breaks removed, but perhaps the text remains informative).

Hoping to get the priest, Gerard Manly Hopkins, to pray for him, the rich man thought to buy his favor with his favorite falcon, “Windhover.”

Cyrus wasn’t to clear on the concept of “giving the bird”

The only reason he is still sitting there is because he has been nailed there!