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.