We were lucky enough to meet a man flying his young Harris Hawk this morning. Beautiful bird. I was fascinated watching the man whistle softly, the bird drop out of a tree and glide onto his glove. Our local wild Buzzards dont bother about it apparently but he says he dosent bring his big bird over as it attacks the Buzzards. Goodness. As I stood fascinated my friend remembered her little working cocker was round the corner laying down the law to his mate, and got very agitated. The falconer said he was socialising the hawk to people and dogs - some job! Imagine having a recall problem with a raptor, you'd be chasing it in the car for miles! And how do you tell a bird to " Leave" ? Amazing.

With a 12 bore Lorelei! ;)

John, you are wicked ;)

Hi John, :D :D:D Is this how youll spend your time now the shooting season's over?

I'm always fascinated watching people work raptors - especially if they're working terriers as well! The thrill of having a bird voluntarily come back to you (though it can go wrong - a chap in the village has an eagle owl that he used to fly daily - till it went AWOL for over a week! The bird was in a tree in our road every day for three days but it still wouldn't come down to him. He was chasing it all over the countryside, leaving food for it. But I digress). We have plenty of buzzards around too - my dogs once mugged one for its kill! Nature is wonderful!

I've been on hunting days with Harris Hawks - fantastic. I was walking back to the centre with one on my arm and some stoopid dog walkers strolled through a gate without watching what their dog was doing, who promptly ran up to my hawk who flapped her wings and saw the dog off - I just kept walking!! I've flown Harris Hawks loads of times and I think they are just the most magnificent birds I have ever seen - I love them.

Flying a Harris Hawk is the next best thing to walking a dog :)

I really love birds of prey and have done for years and years.  I still can't resist looking up when I catch something hovering and many times I have pulled the car over to watch when I've been driving.  I would love to be able to identify birds of prey effectively and if anyone can recommend a suitable book that would be great.  The best I can do at the moment is one of those Eye Spy Books that I have had for years!!   Recently I saw a large bird of prey on the ground in the field in a stand-off with a pheasant.  The two birds were of equal size and remained frozen for some minutes, not moving at all.  I was late for an appointment so didn't get to see what happened in the end :-(

I have a friend who is a hawker (not a falconer as he has a hawk and not a falcon!!) and I have used my springer to flush game for him.  It is quite an experience to watch one of those birds and a large rabbit.  It's a good job my dog has good recall!  His bird always has the pheasants that we remove breasts from during the shooting season so nothing goes to waste.

Jackyjat said:I have a friend who is a hawker (not a falconer as he has a hawk and not a falcon!!)

Please note we call ourselves AUSTRINGERS not "Hawkers"
thank you. :)

My husband loves watching the hawks etc too although we only ever seen them at country shows. Whenever he can he goes to the shows to see them. Although this is normally only if we are lucky enough on holidays.

We scared off a crow yesterday having a real go at a squirrel and the squirrel couldnt get away - those sorts of birds I could shoot - I felt sorry for the squirrel even though my two love to bark at them when they see them :p

Gina

You probably saved the crows life - a squirrel is a formidable little beast. One bit off one of the toes of one of the Harris Hawks we fly! ;)

Poor little? Hawk that is rotten - how was the bird afterwards could it still fly etc??

Honestly the big black bird (massive crow I think - the ones that kill the baby sparrows - was really going for the squirrel and it couldnt get away. It was pecking and going for it. Never seen anything like this before so husband chased it off. Took a few moments or so for it to fly away too. :p :p

The best thing I ever saw was a sparrow hawk land on a tub in our London town patio/garden. We took some lovely photos of it sitting there. As we lived near Westminster Abbey I never expected to see it there although someone told me they use them to keep the pigeon population down but not sure if that is true. Wonderful to see though.

Gina

The hawk was OK after. He had caught the squirrel but the squirrel fought back and bit off his toe...they still had to pull the hawk off mind :rolleyes: and even on the way back to the van he was trying to go after anything he saw :) :) . His foot got infected afterwards, but it cleared up and he had to learn to re-balance himself. Was a nasty accident and now they keep a closer eye on the birds as far as hunting squirrels are concerned!

Best I ever saw was an Eagle go after a rabbit - breathtaking!

Thanks Sam, I knew it wasn't a falconer!  I know now!

Hi J/Jat, I get to see lots of birds where we live, the straits being one of the main the migratory routes :)
I have a Hamlyn Guide book *Birds of Britain And Europe* isbn 0 600 57492 X that I find very useful for identifying them.

Christine, Spain.