Last Friday I visited my friends at the Pennsylvania Falconry and Hawk Trust annual field meet for the day. I was expecting to see some Red-tailed Hawks hunt but instead I was in for a big surprise!
The first Hawk we hunted with was an adult Northern Goshawk. I’ve only seen this species once and it was not an adult; I also never saw one hunt before. That all changed this time by!
Adult Northern Goshawk
This Goshawk hunted from the glove, a technique I’ve never seen since the Hawks and Kestrels I’ve hunted with flew freely and hunted from higher perches.
Northern Goshawk on the glove
After some failed attempts at rabbits, she came close to capturing a squirrel who was in her grips, but the squirrel was not quite ready to be hawk food!
Northern Goshawk with a Squirrel
The squirrel got away, but it helped me get a nice photo by making some snow fall on the Goshawk.
Northern Goshawk with snow
We saw another adult Goshawk hunt later in the day – this one was sixteen years old!!
Sixteen year old Northern Goshawk
Still, at that age, she was as beautiful as a younger Hawk!
Northern Goshawk
The next bird we hunted with was one I’ve seen in the past but are always a pleasure to watch – a Harris’s Hawk.
Harris’s Hawk up close
This bird hunted with a Dachshund – their relationship was pretty amazing! While the dog tries to find and flush rabbits, the Hawk watches from above. They almost got a cottontail on their own but the brush was too thick.
Harris’s Hawk in flight
Again, no kills, but it’s great seeing the relationship between a falconer, his dog and his bird.
Harris’s Hawk with falconer
I nearly fainted from seeing the next bird we hunted with – an Ornate Hawk Eagle.
Ornate Hawk Eagle
This bird was so perfect that it looked like a stuffed animal. Every color of this bird was so vivid.
Ornate Hawk Eagle posing
This bird also hunted from the glove. We only “somewhat” saw the bird fly once – a rabbit was right below her and she tried dropping on it, but the prey got away. It was still great to see this gorgeous bird!
Ornate Hawk Eagle on the glove
These were my first hunts with accipiters and an eagle – even though we did not catch anything, it was another perfect day with great friends!
Early this month I went to my second falconry field meet and met some pretty awesome birds (and people!). For this meet, I was able to photograph more birds around the headquarters. This will be a photo-heavy post with little words. The beauty of these birds will do the speaking…
I saw a couple of great Falcons:
3/4 Gyr + 1/4 Saker Falcon
Barbary Falcon
Peales Falcon, a subspecies of the Peregrine
And my first Goshawk! Too bad I couldn’t count her as a life bird.
Northern Goshawk
Someone had a Golden Eagle that I could get close to near the weathering yard – this bird is massive!
Golden Eagle
I watched multiple Red-tailed Hawks hunt…
Nikita, my friend’s Red-tailed Hawk on the lookout
Meallan, my friend’s Red-tailed Hawk
Including my friend’s adult Red-tail that I also saw in the beginning of the year. She successfully caught one squirrel and we tried to get another.
Isis, protecting her kill
Isis, my friend’s Red-tailed Hawk on her lure
Once again, I watched my friend’s Harris Hawk, Rogue, hunt. This time, she hunted with other Hawks that belonged to new friends.
Group hunting with Harris’s Hawks
My friend’s Harris’s Hawk
I also had the pleasure of seeing my favorite little raptor, the American Kestrel.
Hank, my friend’s American Kestrel in flight
Hank, my friend’s American Kestrel on his lure
Clover, my friend’s imprinted American Kestrel
Clover and Sid my friends’ American Kestrels, hunting together
To end this post, I’ll share some mug shots of three different Red-tailed Hawks that were in the weathering yard. It’s amazing how different they can look!
Red-tailed Hawk with transitioning eye color
A darker Red-tailed Hawk
This Red-tailed Hawk looks like it has puffy cheeks
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing some of my friends’ birds. It was great to be able to be so close to such beautiful raptors and watch them in action.
On both days, we hunted with Rogue, a young Harris Hawk. Rogue is a very ambitious hawk who goes after prey that is larger than herself. She caught her second turkey within a month and even went after a Great Blue Heron! We were all happy that she did not catch up to the heron who hurried away.
Rogue, a young Harris Hawk still in juvenile plumage.
Rogue on the lookout for prey.
Rogue taking off from a fence post.
Rogue had the catch of the weekend – this turkey was flushed out accidentally and Rogue pursued her. We eventually caught up a half hour later to find that Rogue had killed the turkey on her own.
Two new friends that I just met had Red-tail Hawks. Even though we did not catch any prey with these birds, they gave us quite a show!
Nyx, a young Red-tail Hawk, in search of prey.
Isis, a year old Red-tail Hawk posing for the camera.
Pauline and Isis across the field.
I still have yet to see Meg, a Gyrfalcon+Saker Falcon hybrid hunt, but I did watch a few training flights. This beautiful falcon got her name from how large she is, because she is, indeed, a Meg[a] Falcon!
Meg, a beautiful Gyrfalcon/Saker Falcon Hybrid.
Meg taking flight as sunset approaches.
Meg in flight.
Meg going after her lure during a training session.
My friend who introduced me to the world of Falconry recently caught her Hawk, Rusty. I did not see Rusty fly during this event, but I did meet him a couple of days before during a training session.
Rusty was also at the meet, however, this photo was taken a couple of days before it.
Rusty giving me a silly bird-face.
After chasing wild birds all the time, it is great to see and photograph some raptors up close. I even held a Merlin for a while. The bird is so tiny that holding her for over an hour was not tiring at all.
