DONORS:

James Roush, DVM and the Elgin family

Bob and Morticia, a golden eagle

A Biography – Bob Elgin

Charles Robert Elgin (Bob) was born in Centerville, Iowa on May 21, 1921 to Rae Ursula BeauSeigneur and John Robert Elgin. As a young man, he

immersed himself in the woods and valleys of Southern Iowa. He captured and trained a wild Cooper’s hawk, sparking an interest in raptors. He contacted

Colonel Luff Meredith and the two became fast friends, with Meredith mentoring Elgin in the noble sport of falconry.

During World War 2, Elgin was a commended Non-Commissioned Officer for the Air Force. Enthralled with things that flew, he honed his interest in

airplanes while in the military and after the war he owned his own plane.

into a corner and ready to fight. Jim captured one. They left a baby in each nest so the adults could finish their reproductive cycle and be more likely to

occupy the site again. By the end of the trip, all three falconers proudly held a downy Prairie falcon in their arms. According to Roush, “With Bob’s help we

were able to train and fly them, and it lives in my memory as the trip of a lifetime.”

In 1967, Elgin became director of the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. He educated himself on the care of exotic animals and built the zoo into a well-

respected facility with a large collection of big cats, canines, reptiles, ungulates, elephants, primates, and raptors. Bob practiced adaptation training on

these animals, using techniques similar to those he learned in falconry.

Elgin was often featured in newspaper, magazines, and on television shows. He appeared with a jaguar on the Kennedy and Company show, and on the

Regis Philbin show in New York City. His handling of many species demonstrated the power of a gentle touch, patience, and understanding.

There were challenges as well. In 1969, Huff, a six foot-long cobra, bit Elgin, nearly killing him. A 160 pound chimpanzee, jealous over Bob’s attention to

a lion, bit off two of his fingers on Christmas day in 1973. Despite the difficulties, the years Elgin spent as zoo director were some of his happiest. His wife

treatise, “On the Psychology of the Goshawk,” in 1959. He also wrote and produced several films on the

zoo and falconry. His two books, Man in a Cage and The Tiger is My Brother, discussed his life at the zoo.

A true Renaissance man, Elgin was passionate about opera, philosophy, politics, good food, an occasional

cognac, and most of all, his wife Jane, an artist still residing in Iowa. He stayed in close contact with fellow

falconers, including Jim Roush and Jack Stoddard. Granddaughter, Hannah Hartsell, carries on his love

of raptors through her work at the Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene, Oregon and at Tuscon’s Arizona

Sonora Desert Museum.

A loving husband, father, grandfather and friend, Bob is dearly

remembered for his wisdom, honesty and devotion to the humans and

High above the clouds,

On his blue wings,

To greet you

Love of living.

Jim had bought Prairie Falcons from a character named

“Doc Groom” from Lame Deer, Montana. They were quite

expensive, a whole fifty bucks. Kimsey did some research,

and discovered that there was a nesting population of

Prairie Falcons near the Wyoming/Colorado border west of

Pine Bluff, Nebraska. One fine spring day, the three of us

piled into a car, with ropes in the trunk and an extension

ladder on the top, and headed west.

We followed the Platte River across Nebraska, the route of

many pioneers. There are stories of the pioneers moving

Spirits were high. There was much camaraderie and talk

of hawks, falcons, and the “old days” when falconry was

just beginning in America. Bob, our mentor, told us stories

about his mentor Col. Luff Meredith. He told us about the

split between the old falconry club and those members who

formed the new one, and the fiery passions involved with

deciding the future of falconry in our country.

We watched the country change from corn, to wheat, to

sagebrush as we finally arrived in southern Wyoming,

where we were to search for Prairie Falcons. The country

Upon finding this, we would then observe, quietly, for the

appearance of a bird of prey. If it proved to be a Prairie

Falcon, we would re-convene and discuss our finding.

We were able to locate a number of active eyries. We found

one which seemed safe for us to climb into with ropes, and

another which was accessible with an aluminum extension

ladder. By the time we had located the eyries, it was getting

toward dusk, so we decided to camp overnight and go out

in the morning.

Sunrise found us trekking across the prairie, two guys

too young for us to take; we were looking for large downies.

So he left them in place.

At the next eyrie Kimsey lowered me on the hay rope into

an eyrie with large downies in it. In fact the male babies

were able to fly, and they bolted out of the pothole when

I showed up. The females were backed into a corner, and

clearly ready to fight for their lives. A female was taken from

here.

We then located an eyrie which was accessible with the

ladder, somewhat unstable and the top swaying around in

of reason.

We made sure there was one young left in each eyrie, so the

parents could finish their reproductive cycle by fledging

young, and so be more likely to occupy this site next year.

With a downy Prairie Falcon chick for each of us, we

made our way back to the car, after an encounter with an

extremely miffed rattlesnake.

The trip back to Iowa was triumphant. There were no

known falcons nesting in Iowa at that time, and we later

found out that Peregrine Falcons were nearly extinct