Jake's new hawk


Over the weekend, Jake went with his falconry sponsor and caught his new bird ~
a Red Tailed Hawk.
After all of us logging nearly 21 hours in the car looking for the right bird, we couldn't be happier.


She is a beautiful young girl.  You can tell she is a passage (juvenille) because her tail is not red yet but rather striped.  And he knows it's a female by it's weight.  The girls are heavier.


She is getting used to sitting quietly on his hand and doing very well.
Every once in a while she tries to fly away though.


Just look at those wide wings
and those beautiful intimidating eyes!


He's pretty proud of her.
For Jake, the hard work of training now begins.


For the full story of Jake's falconry apprenticeship see his blog.

Comments

  1. how awesome that she is young and probably more trainable than an adult! i'm so impressed that she is not trying to fight him.

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  2. Please excuse my ignorance regarding falconry....but how are the wild falcons caught? I'm just picturing a scary, inhumane capture of a wild bird.

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  3. I did not know the females were bigger!.....I look forward to learning more. (from Jake's blog) She is beautiful! Does she have a name?

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  4. How exciting! There is nothing better than working closely with an animal. I admire Jake for picking such an interesting and challenging sport. I wish him and his new partner luck. Does she have a name yet?

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  5. I was helping the reading teacher at school who suggested I read My Side of the Mountain. I had kids and we read all the books in the series and have a real admiration for big birds!
    Enjoy this experience.

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  6. Dr. Momi,
    No name yet. He's still thinking about it. It will probably be a latin one like Viator, his last bird.
    Pit Stop,
    In falconry, the birds are trapped with bait and the traps usually have small nooses that get tangled on their talons. The falconers put the trap out after sighting the bird and watch it. If a raptor goes for the trap they are not in it more than a few seconds. The thing you have to remember is that falconers LOVE birds and because they are strictly regulated by state and federal wildlife departments, they safety for the birds comes first.
    Jake is taking part in a two year apprenticeship to train him to be a falconer. From my perspective, the beauty of falconry is watching a person and a wild bird become hunting partners. These guys (and girls) truly bring out the best in their birds!
    And just so you know, birds captured in the wild are usually returned to the wild. That is a beautiful thing too. See, "Fly Free, V" in the sidebar on our son's blog apprenticefalconer.blogspot.com

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  7. I love red-tailed hawks. We get to see them around our home a lot. They are so graceful. Love the picture of Jake's girl. Thanks for sharing a link to his blog. I poked around on it and loved reading about things that are so foreign to me!

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  8. It's a beautiful bird. I hope your chickens are safely behind hawk fencing? I'll check out his blog. Quite an amazing skill to learn.

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  9. Kim I found your post VERY interesting and I popped over to your son's blog and thoroughly enjoyed my visit. What a wonderful hobby he has taken up...you have a very responsible young man there. I loved reading how his bird was caught and watching the video of V's release. I'm sure it was hard for him to see his first bird 'fly the coop'. You have raised a fine young man there. I look forward to seeing their progress. Have a wonderful Thursday!
    Maura :)

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  10. Jake's hawk is just gorgeous! We have been lucky enough to see several lately, fairly close by, and they are such magnificent creatures. (We have a good amount of - ahem - rodents here in the city, so I suspect they are eating well) I look forward to seeing more of this beautiful girl!

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  11. I don't know much about hawks (except the fact that they play havoc with our chickens), but she is beautiful. I bet training is a lot of work. That's quite a step up in size from the other one he had.

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  12. she was so lovely to see in person...wow. i had totally missed this post! i'll have to check out jake's blog too!

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  13. I just came across your blog and I'm really enjoying it. I clicked on your sons blog, but it says I need permission to view. Is the blog still up?

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  14. Hi Carrie. Welcome to my blog! Jake's blog is down right now since he doesn't have a bird. He blogged for two years but has just graduated and is busy doing other things. We are keeping it up privately until we can print it all off for his own records. Thanks for asking about it though!

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