Falconry at Leeds Castle

17 pics.  A Harris Hawk waits pensively for the launch signal.  That beak means business.  You can click twice for a better view.

“Ain’t I awesome”.

The trainer sends a morsel into the air using an elastic catapult.   A little to the right of the hawk is a distant seagull and just below is the morsel.  The hawk now has folded wings for the dive.

And the flyby with trophy.

“Nothing to see here, move along now.  Ahh, with fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti”.

A victory lap.

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“I’m firm but fair and you will applaud”.  And they did.

The owl, the trainer said, had a short attention span and was easily distracted.  He also said they were “thick”.

“He said what”.

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“Right, I’ll have your scraggles off”.

“I am, in fact, wise and dignified and I’ll murgle anyone who says otherwise”.

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Meanwhile, several gulls were scriking and showing off by making feint dives at the hawks.  But, they carefully kept their distance.  The hawks disdained any interest.   After all, one does not converse with one’s food.

This little miss is a North American Kestrel weighing in at a mere 4 ounces.    She was so fast on the wing, that the only photographs I have, are where she used to be.   Even the gulls were bemused and kept their distance.

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Falcons, we are informed, will only fly free and return if they are happy with their conditions.  They also live twice as long as in the wild. So, everybody’s happy.  Yay . 🙂

There are more falcons including an amazing peregrine here.

Tweet and thanks for the visit.