England 2005: Falconry

Dave's favo(u)rites were these Harris Hawks. Smart team hunters, they are excellent falconry birds. They hunt in groups of up to 8, but the handler now only uses 2 in display. He used to use 4 at a time, but couldn't keep them busy enough. Two of them discovered the hotel chicken coop on the other side of the building, which didn't go over too well with the chef!

 

Here they were landing on the arm of the handler and quickly launched off to another perch.

 
They were so fast that even with a zoom lens, 6fps digital SLR and predictive focusing sport mode Dave shot a lot of blurry pictures of building stones!
As you can see here!
Dave's favo(u)rite shot of all. Here the hawks have landed on the railing of the patio and are looking away from the audience towards the sloping grounds in front of the hotel.

Apparently there used to be a general population of rabbits in this area, but now only a specialized breed (that sleep in until after the 10am falconry show) are left.

"Oy no hunting!" quickly put an end to their scanning the yard.

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Last updated 12 October 2005 .