I am so chuffed with Holly today (the harris hawk!) Her manning (Thats like taming) has gone well in 1st week & she has gone from wild flapping screeching savage thing to sweet little girl going for walks on mum's fist! Today, for the 1st time, she actually came to me & jumped onto my fist, then later on she flew to my fist. I feel this is huge progress & wanted to share it.....(sad cow!) well you did say you wanted a progress report!

sam that sounds great, I'm off to Exmoor in 3 weeks for a 2 day 'hawk experience' - then I plan to try and explain to hubby why I don't want that old aviary at the end of the garden knocked down......

Digger
are you going to the Powells farm? They are not far away from me & they have some super horses too! Hope you have a really good time, Exmoor is beautiful, although not really at its best in the summer, come again in the winter or spring, its wonderful.

Hi Sam - yes I'm going to the Powells We wanted to stay B & B but they were full the night of the course, so we're staying at Doniford instead (it'll keep the kids busy <G>) Big Dave will take them to Butlins or something while I'm busy..... I can't wait )))

Are they difficult to train/tame? I would imagine they are- or is that just to those of us who wouldn't have a clue. They really are beautiful birds, Kestrels have got to be my favourite though. Last year at our village's annual gala/summer fair they had a birds of prey display and my Daughter who was 6 at the time was picked out of the crowd to go and help the handler, he gave her the lead sort of thing with meat attached to the end and she had to run to the other end of the area they had sectioned off for the display- then a harris hawk which was circling round swooped down and took the meat:) It really was quite amazing to see- my Daughter's been hooked on them ever since, she finds them 'magical' in flight:) Then also last summer we went to visit Conisbrough Castle and on the top floor we peered out of the window as you could see quite a distance away- and there was a kestrel on the ledge- it has young there too- even a mouse that was at the otherside- (dead) as if it was a larder/pantry:) Needless to say it more than made her day. They'd painted the window- to stop people bothering the bird but some of it had been scratched off so we could still see- I was dying to take a photo but didn't as I didn't want to upset the bird. The class went there on a school trip before Easter- Shannon said she wasn't going to tell any of them incase they bothered the bird by knocking on the window or whatever, she was going to have a sneaky peek on her own- she was disappointed though as it wasn't there:)

Anyway congratulations- you're obviously very pleased- here's hoping that it continues as good:)
Stacey x x x

Congratulations Sam!!!! Her progress is progressing Perhaps you can do a photo of her & send it around one of these days.

Brill Sam !!! Keep the progress reports coming, they're v interesting

How's Holly doing Sam? We got back from Exmoor yesterday - and I think I'm still floating <G> We took two Harris's out - one for an hour down beside the river - what an amazing sight to see such a large bird flitting between branches and undergrowth, and one (Costa) for two hours across some private farm land and into a coombe using sheep and deer paths - it was truly fascinating - she put up a pheasant and got in a right strop when she lost it in a bramble thicket - she literally stomped back up the hill to Glynn <G> Hubby's given his permission (wow!) for me to look further into getting my own bird, so I may well be going back for more learning )

Hi
I take it you stayed with Kathy & Glen up on Exmoor?
Glad you had a good time, its magical up there, although weather not so good. How much flying did you do with their harris's? Was it just a day 's hunting or did you actually do a short course?
Holly is coming on really well....she has gone from wild mad savage feather bundle to calm (ish!) trusting elegant grown up girl. Today she is flying 100 yards on creance and catching the pheasant lure, albeit rather tentatively, but the aggression will come with experience. I have decided for the 1st time ever, to invest in telemetry....did you use it on Exmoor? I am questioning every one I know at present to get an idea on which brand/system to go for & probably will not risk Holly free until I have purchased it. Will have to get on & do it soon as she is really ready to go free now & the danger is that she will get bored with what I am doing at the moment. Keep in touch & let me know what you do about considering a bird, I will keep you updated on Holly.

Hi Sam,
We didn't actually stay with Kathy and Glen (there was no room 'at the Inn' ) but that didn't detract from the experience for me - it made it 'mine' rather than a family thing We were incredibly lucky with the weather,and didn't actually get rained on - although ofcourse the Falcons didn't fly so well (one legged it round the front of the house and took down a pigeon, which was duly rescued, but then the bird sat on the chimney looking at us and refused to fly at all for about 20 minutes - frustrating for Tony the falconer, but fascinating for us onlookers). We weren't hunting as such - although she did take down a pheasant and a rabbit while we were out on Exmoor on the second day. By telemetry do you mean the radio tracking? She was equipped with it (as are all their birds) but we didn't have to use it as she never completly out of ear/eye contact (apart from one brief sulk in the brier patch whenshe lost her Pheasant <G>) I can imagine how scarey it can be when you know your baby is ready to go, but that could be the last you see of her - it's bad enough with a dog who can only run away - birds it's a 3D thing isn't it?.....
I look forward to hearing more on Holly, I have several pounds to loose before I can really do a bird justice, so we're probably looking at next year sometime.

It all sounds very exciting only wish I knew what you were talking about. Can you suggest a book I could read, not to take up the fancy or sport or whatever it's called but just to understand what is involved and to be better able to apreciate when I watch someone useing a bird. (see don't even know what flying a bird at prey is called) Yours in ignorance, Jackie H

Hi Jackie
most falconry books are manual types covering all the aspects of keeping a bird & not terribly interesting to anyone who is outside of the sport,
(its a field sport rather than a fancy) but you might try "O for a Falconers Voice" by Roger Upton as a more general insight.

Thanks Sam. JH

I have never heard of anyone (successfully) rescuing a pigeon, or anything else living, from A Harris hawk!!! (Unless its to go straight into the pot of course) Yes, the telemetry is the radio transmitter used to locate lost birds, going to look at some tomorrow but at £600 odd its not cheap! Glad you had a good time though.

It wasn't the Harris who got the pigeon - it was an 11 month old Peregrine - and we did cross question Tony about it, ensuring he knew we weren't going to beat him up for allowing it to happen, and he swears it survived - but for how long we don't know......
Do you have any thoughts on working a Spinone with a Harris Hawk?

Bracco would be better :D

You mean they can fly!!!!!

Those ears must be useful for something, cos they don't use 'em to listen with :D