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Rehabilitating Falcons in New Zealand
Further to the discussion of falconry technique, and because fantasyfan asked me to share the experience, I'm attaching three shots I took of a New Zealand Falcon in action. The first close-up shows the jesses on the legs, which don't cause the bird any problems, though if the leash was not taken out, the bird could get entangled - ref. the awful story of White letting Gos hang upside down.
The second shows the bird on the ground with the lure, which is simply feathers attached to a long rope and is used for training the bird to strike. She is eating her reward.
The third shows the bird doing a low flypast, and although the shot was taken at 1/1,000th of a second, as you can see, the wings are still a blur. Falcons are seriously speedy!
It was a wonderful experience to see the birds up close, try to photograph the action, and see the work that Wingspan is doing to rehabilitate these injured birds.
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