A full range of weather options over the past two weeks ! Torrential rain, which is no good for flying in, baking sunshine, which is no good for flying in and then at last, perfect weather. Sunshine, but not too hot, and a strong gusty breeze that enabled the hawks to get high with ease. When they are a hundred feet up and circling lazily around, the customers can really see what all the fuss is about.
If hawks wore T-shirts with mottoes, their's would read " Never waste energy" and " Height is safety". That's why they won't fly high on a hot day, it's just too much like hard work to get up there. It's OK once they're at a certain height because then they may hook into a thermal, a column of rising air. But getting there is hard work, which is where the first motto comes in.
When they are high, the customers at NorthDevonHawkWalks get to see the birds constantly changing shape as they adjust their wings to take advantage of the changing wind conditions. As soon as the customer puts out their fist, with a piece of meat on it, the hawk changes shape dramatically. The wings are pulled in, so that they form an ' M ' shape , less wing surface exposed to the air means less lift and so the bird drops down from the sky and hurtles towards the fist. It never fails to get a gasp of admiration !
A few days ago we were at the Mid-Devon show, in Tiverton where as usual, the hawks were very popular, with people queuing up to stroke Artemis the sparrowhawk and admire Lady Macbeth and Cassius. My friend Tom brought along his African eagle-owl and we ran a competition to guess her weight raising £40 for the North Devon Animal Ambulance. The name of the winner will be placed on the website, www.NorthDevonHawkWalks.co.uk within the next couple of days, after I've contacted them to send them their free Hawk Walk voucher.
It's getting more and more busy as summer holidays lure people out to learn about falconry with us. We've been going out twice a day for several days now, and if the weather stays reasonable we should have another very busy August.
As the birds are moulting ( losing their old feathers and growing new ones), I have to be very careful with their diet, making sure they get a lot of very good quality food to promote feather growth, but balancing this with the need to get down to a flying weight for the days when we have customers. See previous posts for information about food for hawks.
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Hawks flying
One of my customers, Darren Williams, has posted a great little video of Cassius flying.
See it at http://vimeo.com/43519321
He'll be posting another one shortly of Lady Macbeth in flight.
See it at http://vimeo.com/43519321
He'll be posting another one shortly of Lady Macbeth in flight.
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Haggard hawk
Life continues, here at North Devon Hawk Walks.
I'm looking after a young male Harris Hawk for a guy who has not been able to devote as much time to falconry as he would like. I agreed to take on Hero for a month, to do a bit of remedial training and manning. He's been trained and hunted, a bit, but because he's had not much done with him, he's in danger of turning haggard.
Haggard means, basically, going back to the wild. So with Hero it's been a case of back to basics. Started off with sitting with him in the aviary, with him tethered. Then feeding him on the fist, then walking around with him, then creance flying, then flying free. Sounds easy!
Actually, it wasn't too bad at all. Because of course, he was just being reminded of everything, not like Orlando ( see previous posts) who is learning it all from scratch.
Anyway, Hero is now flying free ( at about 1lb 5ounces), and following on nicely through the trees.
The only slight problem is that although he will follow nicely, he won't go far enough ahead. He needs to learn to do this if he is to be any good at hunting. But I've still got a few weeks left to achieve that.
Orlando continues to frustrate and intimidate in almost equal measures. She's got a tremendous bellow of rage that she uses whenever I have the temerity to try and pick her up from a perch. But for several weeks now she's been free-lofted ( ie flying free in her aviary), as well as learning to follow on. She just needs lots and lots of manning. I probably need to get her hunting ASAP as that will help her psychologically. Not enough hours in the day.! ( Or rabbits in North Devon).
My wife Jane is off to learn about using Facebook for business today. So hopefully I can pick her brains and the next stage for North Devon Hawk Walks will be to join the Facebook empire.
Look at the website www.NorthDevonHawkWalks.co.uk for forthcoming events ( Fairs and shows etc). Recently we were at the Devon Wildlife Trust event in Exeter, which is where the picture below was taken. Most kids are fascinated by hawks, and Artemis the sparrowhawk is quite happy to be stroked.
We shall be at the South Molton Seven Saturdays in Summer event, every Saturday morning, starting 14th July. Come along and meet the hawks.
I'm looking after a young male Harris Hawk for a guy who has not been able to devote as much time to falconry as he would like. I agreed to take on Hero for a month, to do a bit of remedial training and manning. He's been trained and hunted, a bit, but because he's had not much done with him, he's in danger of turning haggard.
Haggard means, basically, going back to the wild. So with Hero it's been a case of back to basics. Started off with sitting with him in the aviary, with him tethered. Then feeding him on the fist, then walking around with him, then creance flying, then flying free. Sounds easy!
Actually, it wasn't too bad at all. Because of course, he was just being reminded of everything, not like Orlando ( see previous posts) who is learning it all from scratch.
Anyway, Hero is now flying free ( at about 1lb 5ounces), and following on nicely through the trees.
The only slight problem is that although he will follow nicely, he won't go far enough ahead. He needs to learn to do this if he is to be any good at hunting. But I've still got a few weeks left to achieve that.
Orlando continues to frustrate and intimidate in almost equal measures. She's got a tremendous bellow of rage that she uses whenever I have the temerity to try and pick her up from a perch. But for several weeks now she's been free-lofted ( ie flying free in her aviary), as well as learning to follow on. She just needs lots and lots of manning. I probably need to get her hunting ASAP as that will help her psychologically. Not enough hours in the day.! ( Or rabbits in North Devon).
My wife Jane is off to learn about using Facebook for business today. So hopefully I can pick her brains and the next stage for North Devon Hawk Walks will be to join the Facebook empire.
Look at the website www.NorthDevonHawkWalks.co.uk for forthcoming events ( Fairs and shows etc). Recently we were at the Devon Wildlife Trust event in Exeter, which is where the picture below was taken. Most kids are fascinated by hawks, and Artemis the sparrowhawk is quite happy to be stroked.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Forthcoming events
Lady Macbeth, Cassius and the rest of the crew will be at Exeter Cathedral on Saturday 28th April as part of the Stay in Devon exhibition
As usual we shall all be attending the Mid Devon Show on 28th July. Look out for the North Devon Hawk Walks tent.
Also at the North Devon Show on Wednesday 1st August.
And I shall be doing a "masterclass" on falconry with the birds on Monday 3rd September as part of the West Buckland Festival.
As usual we shall all be attending the Mid Devon Show on 28th July. Look out for the North Devon Hawk Walks tent.
Also at the North Devon Show on Wednesday 1st August.
And I shall be doing a "masterclass" on falconry with the birds on Monday 3rd September as part of the West Buckland Festival.
Saturday, 21 April 2012
I've added a photo of Lady Macbeth in which the telemetry she now wears can be seen. Over the past 4 months, she's twice been out overnight as a result of my not being able to find her after she caught a pheasant. Obviously, she's more interested in eating that, than coming back to me. Usually, the bell she wears is enough to help locate her but I decided I couldn't take the chance any more and invested in a tail mount for her, so that I could use the telemetry I already had for Artemis the sparrowhawk. In the picture above, you can see the transmitter which is secured to her tail by a crimped-on metal grip. It's tiny, smaller than a UK five-penny piece, and carries a thin, six inch long aerial.
I did attach it to her anklet, but she ate the aerial, or at least, tore it apart. I suppose it was getting in her way a bit. She's quite happy with the present arrangement and I think she doesn't even know it's there.
We've just come back from a hawk walk. It's a cold windy day on Exmoor and the breeze helped Cassius and her Laydyship show off their flying skills nicely.
I also took out Artemis, not to fly, but to let people get close and examine her in a way they're unlikely to be able to do anywhere else. The above close-up doesn't give an idea of her size .She weighs 222grammes when she is at flying weight, and she measures about six inches from her head to the base of her tail, which should be about four inches long. See previous posts to learn why it isn't.
See www.NorthDevonHawkWalks.co.uk for details of the hawk walks.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Link to hawk photos.
Here is a link to photos taken by myself and customers on hawk walks on Exmoor.
Some are also from falconry displays in the UK, while a few are from my visit some years ago to Biak, in New Guinea.
http://photobucket.com/HawkWalks
Some are also from falconry displays in the UK, while a few are from my visit some years ago to Biak, in New Guinea.
http://photobucket.com/HawkWalks
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Patience is a virtue
Definitely time that I posted something!
Orlando, the female Harris Hawk that I wrote about in the last post, continues to occupy a lot of my time. Because she wasn't touched at all for the the first 18 months of her life, she is a lot more difficult to train than birds that are bought at three months of age and then trained, which is the norm.
We've progressed to the stage where I can touch, stroke and generally fiddle about with her without losing a finger. This is important, because anyone who owns a bird of prey that is to be used in falconry needs to be able to check the bird for injuries, fit equipment etc.
It's always possible to "cast" a bird, that is getting someone to cover the bird with a towel while she is on your fist and thus immobilise her, but as you can imagine, the birds don't like this very much at all. Because the Harris Hawk is quite intelligent, for a bird of prey, they soon learn to be way of anyone sneaking up on them with a towel. If the casting always takes place in the same room, they can become unwilling to enter that room.
But as I say, I am now trusted enough to be able to handle her most of the time. Except for her feet. Her tolerance of being touched does not yet extend to her feet. She will allow me touch them a couple of times every two or three minutes, but no more than that. I've learned to watch for the tell-tale shift of balance as she takes the weight off one foot preparatory to striking me with it. But as with most things connected with falconry, time and patience will carry me through.
The sparrowhawk, Artemis, is taking a break now after a mid winter career of starling scaring. The winter has been generally mild down here in Devon so there are less starlings around. She did a good job of scaring them away from the farms where we were employed. When we were outside, I would point her at a tree full of starlings and she'd head straight for it at speed. She'd fly quite low and then pull up at the last moment into a steep climb which carried her up into the branches. Inside the cattle sheds, she flew low and fast, chasing the starlings around, through, over and under the various obstacles until either she needed a rest, or she caught one.
The tail feathers of a sparrowhawk are very brittle. They don't bend anything like as much as those of the Harris and are very prone to breaking. Artemis now has only a stump of a tail, a shadow of its former glory. It doesn't reduce her speed but it does make her less manouverable. The tail feathers will be renewed, along with all her other feathers, during the coming summer in the annual moult.
During the moult, the feathers drop out, in a regular pattern, over a period of months and new ones grow out to replace them. Because the feathers come out in a regular pattern, the bird is never "lop-sided" by having say two wing feathers missing on one side and none on the other. Over the years, I've noticed, that the Harris feathers drop out at two day intervals. So if there is a wing feather on the floor of the aviary this morning, then the corresponding feather from the other wing, will be on the floor in two days time.
Falconers tend to keep their birds moulted out feathers ( the big ones, that is), so that they can be used to repair any damaged or broken feathers on the bird. This is called "imping" and basically involves fitting an internal splint or brace made from bamboo or plastic within the hollow spine of the feather that is on the bird and gluing a section from a moulted feather onto the splint. If it's done well, you can't see the join ( as Eric Morecombe would say).
Anyone interested in flying hawks is welcome to get in touch with wwwNorthDevonHawkWalks.co.uk We fly around the North Molton/ Withypool area of Exmoor in Devon, all year round, any day of the week. I enclose a couple of photos, both taken by customers recently.
Orlando, the female Harris Hawk that I wrote about in the last post, continues to occupy a lot of my time. Because she wasn't touched at all for the the first 18 months of her life, she is a lot more difficult to train than birds that are bought at three months of age and then trained, which is the norm.
We've progressed to the stage where I can touch, stroke and generally fiddle about with her without losing a finger. This is important, because anyone who owns a bird of prey that is to be used in falconry needs to be able to check the bird for injuries, fit equipment etc.
It's always possible to "cast" a bird, that is getting someone to cover the bird with a towel while she is on your fist and thus immobilise her, but as you can imagine, the birds don't like this very much at all. Because the Harris Hawk is quite intelligent, for a bird of prey, they soon learn to be way of anyone sneaking up on them with a towel. If the casting always takes place in the same room, they can become unwilling to enter that room.
But as I say, I am now trusted enough to be able to handle her most of the time. Except for her feet. Her tolerance of being touched does not yet extend to her feet. She will allow me touch them a couple of times every two or three minutes, but no more than that. I've learned to watch for the tell-tale shift of balance as she takes the weight off one foot preparatory to striking me with it. But as with most things connected with falconry, time and patience will carry me through.
The sparrowhawk, Artemis, is taking a break now after a mid winter career of starling scaring. The winter has been generally mild down here in Devon so there are less starlings around. She did a good job of scaring them away from the farms where we were employed. When we were outside, I would point her at a tree full of starlings and she'd head straight for it at speed. She'd fly quite low and then pull up at the last moment into a steep climb which carried her up into the branches. Inside the cattle sheds, she flew low and fast, chasing the starlings around, through, over and under the various obstacles until either she needed a rest, or she caught one.
The tail feathers of a sparrowhawk are very brittle. They don't bend anything like as much as those of the Harris and are very prone to breaking. Artemis now has only a stump of a tail, a shadow of its former glory. It doesn't reduce her speed but it does make her less manouverable. The tail feathers will be renewed, along with all her other feathers, during the coming summer in the annual moult.
During the moult, the feathers drop out, in a regular pattern, over a period of months and new ones grow out to replace them. Because the feathers come out in a regular pattern, the bird is never "lop-sided" by having say two wing feathers missing on one side and none on the other. Over the years, I've noticed, that the Harris feathers drop out at two day intervals. So if there is a wing feather on the floor of the aviary this morning, then the corresponding feather from the other wing, will be on the floor in two days time.
Falconers tend to keep their birds moulted out feathers ( the big ones, that is), so that they can be used to repair any damaged or broken feathers on the bird. This is called "imping" and basically involves fitting an internal splint or brace made from bamboo or plastic within the hollow spine of the feather that is on the bird and gluing a section from a moulted feather onto the splint. If it's done well, you can't see the join ( as Eric Morecombe would say).
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