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Nashville songwriter shares connection with birds of prey





Holly Lamar of Wing Blade Falconry swings a lure as she demonstrates the care and handling of professionally trained exotic falcons, hawks and owls.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Holly Lamar of Wing Blade Falconry swings a lure as she demonstrates the care and handling of professionally trained exotic falcons, hawks and owls.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Editor’s note: Holly Lamar was arrested Dec. 5, 2022, and charged with 30 misdemeanor of violating state regulations relating to falconry dating back to Dec. 9, 2021. In an online post, Lamar has maintained she followed the regulations. She is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 30, 2023.”Main Street Nashville visited Wing Blade Falconry in January 2022.
 

Holly Lamar has tried it all.

She’s worked on Wall Street, written a Grammy-nominated song for Faith Hill and renovated houses in London.

Now she’s back in Nashville with a new perspective inspired by the “superheroes” of the animal kingdom: birds of prey.

Since March 2021, Lamar has been hosting falcon experiences in Whites Creek at Wing Blade Falconry. Participants learn about the superpowers of hawks, falcons and buzzards and then get the opportunity to have several species fly to them and land on their own gloved hand.

Carter Crowe gets an up-close view of Abe the Augur buzzard during a demonstration at Wing Blade Falconry.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Carter Crowe gets an up-close view of Abe the Augur buzzard during a demonstration at Wing Blade Falconry.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Lamar’s cast of characters for her demonstrations includes exotic birds Abe the Augur buzzard, Grisabella the Eurasian eagle-owl and Sophia the Saker falcon and indigenous species Dart the kestrel and Maggie the Aplomado falcon.

Over 2½ hours, Lamar tells participants all they could ever want to know about the superpowers of these birds: their flight, eyesight, speed and strength.

She tells how to differentiate birds of prey. A falcon has a fast wingbeat with long pointed wings that look like an angel. Buzzards, eagles and vultures have wide, broad wings. Hawks have longer tails and shorter wings and are often seen flying tree to tree or perched on a wire.

The first bird Lamar had was actually a Bantam chicken while she lived in England. Lamar named the bird Pansy and soon found out that Pansy was a rooster.

One day, she stumbled across a livestream of a bald eagle nest in Iowa. Soon, she was obsessed with watching nests.

Holly Lamar of Wing Blade Falconry helps guests with handling and flying professionally trained exotic falcons, hawks and owls.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Holly Lamar of Wing Blade Falconry helps guests with handling and flying professionally trained exotic falcons, hawks and owls.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

It struck her how much like humans the birds were. Out of three nests she watched, the three couples each had a different relationship.

She was inspired by how much they lived in the present and focused only on what had to be done that day.

For Lamar, this perspective of living in the present and finding happiness and fulfillment there was what had been missing from her life.

She said she had lived the first 30 years of her life knowing she was going to be happy when she made her first million or got her first nice house or attained some other future goal. However, she told participants, after achieving worldly success in Nashville, she was more miserable than she had been in her whole life.

The eagles helped Lamar understand the beauty of life.

“These eagles had no control over anything, and we don’t either, but we think we do and we strive to, but we really don’t, and the only thing we can do is be in the present moment and try to do the next right thing.”

Holly Lamar started Wing Blade Falconry in March 2021.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Holly Lamar started Wing Blade Falconry in March 2021.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Soon, Lamar was all-in on the birds of prey. She took a weeklong falconry course and got her first bird, a red-tailed hawk. (Red-tailed hawks are actually buzzards, she pointed out often.)

She soon got two more birds, and all she did every day for a year was train the three birds.

She would go on an hourlong walk along the English coast with her red-tailed hawk following, flying from her fist to a tree and back again.

“At the end of that year, I felt more alive than I had felt in my whole life. I felt more connected to something out there that was intelligent, that had an intelligence,” she said.

Working with her birds forces Lamar to live in the present moment.

“When I’m with them, I can’t be thinking about my problems. It’s life and death all the time,” she said.

Hunting with her birds has probably been the most character-building thing she’s ever done, Lamar said. An ardent vegetarian, Lamar hates killing and feels sad when a squirrel gets caught, but “that is part of life,” she said.

Holly Lamar of Wing Blade Falconry uses a lure during a demonstration for guests.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Holly Lamar of Wing Blade Falconry uses a lure during a demonstration for guests.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

“The only way, I think, to get any happiness in this world is to accept the good and the bad with equilibrium and to be in the present moment and to just try and take the next right action for the world,” she told participants.

Lamar moved back to Nashville in November 2020 and started Wing Blade Falconry in March 2021. It has allowed Lamar to share a small part of her experience of having a superhero as a “best buddy.”

“I see people leave from this experience almost having a window open in their heart or soul that they bonded or had an experience with a wild creature that is at the opposite end of the spectrum from us that only lives in the present moment,” she said.

The name Wing Blade comes in part from the movie “Sling Blade” but also from the birds themselves.

“They are blades, and they are the ultimate predator,” Lamar said.

Dart the American kestrel is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Dart the American kestrel is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

In the future, Lamar hopes to have one experience a day and two a day during the summer months. She also wants to host meditation with birds of prey.

Lamar offers three experiences. Falconry 101 allows participants to learn about and handle trained birds. Falconry 102 gives participants the experience of what being a falconer is like. Falconry 103 is an afternoon spent hunting with the birds.

She wants to do bird abatement, scaring off nuisance birds at hotels and other public places. She also has trained doves for weddings and funerals and will even have her birds deliver wedding rings.

Lamar hopes to continue her music career at least half of the time, she says. She’s even written a song called “Eagle” about her experience with the birds.

“To me, these are the greatest creatures and evidence of some beautiful divine tapestry that actually works that we should … honor and pay attention to,” Lamar said.

“Having one as a best buddy is kind of cool,” she added.

Maggie the Aplomado falcon is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Maggie the Aplomado falcon is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Dart the American kestrel is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Dart the American kestrel is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Grisabella the Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Grisabella the Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the birds of prey at Wing Blade Falconry in Whites Creek.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Abe the Augur buzzard gets ready to perform at Wing Blade Falconry.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

Abe the Augur buzzard gets ready to perform at Wing Blade Falconry.Larry McCormack / Main Street Nashville

 

 

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