Literary H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

[Bookpossum]

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.

[issybird]

Absolutely stunning, Bookpossum! So very expressive and detailed; I never thought to see birds, especially birds of prey, so closely. Thank you for taking the time to post these and share a bit of your trip.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks very much issybird - the big lens helps! They are very beautiful creatures.

[AnotherCat]

Very nice photos Bookpossum, thanks for posting them.

As you will know these birds are quite threatened so not often seen in the wild. One of the isolated places we sail to in NZ has a small population of them and we occasionally see them hunting on the open hillsides (but have not seen them hunting in forests where they also hunt).

The most common raptor here is the much bigger swamp harrier which is distributed and common most everywhere (it established itself here from Australia in the distant past). As they will eat carrion we, when kids, used to try to snare them but without success; I have no idea how we would have handled one if we had been successful .

The only other raptor here, apart from occasional visitors from Australia, is the Morepork (an owl, also found in some parts of Australia with a different common name). While not threatened they are not often seen, both because they are nocturnal and are a forest dweller. For many years the house we had was located just into the trees of the forest adjacent to the city we lived in; we would occasionally see them but very often hear their "more pork" calls at night close by, very noisy when several of them got fired up outside the bedroom window. There are some recordings of their unusual call at http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/morepork .

But the birdlife here just cannot compare with that in Australia both in interest and diversity.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks AnotherCat - glad you enjoyed them. Wonderful to see them in the wild. The Morepork we call the Boobook - Ninox novaehollandiae.

[Bookworm_Girl]

The pictures are absolutely amazing, Bookpossum! I looked up the Wingspan website, and it was very interesting. Thank you so much for sharing!

[Bookpossum]

Thanks very much, Bookworm-Girl. (Sorry, no underline on my iPad keyboard!)

[fantasyfan]

Great photographs, Bookpossum! Thank you so much.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks fantasyfan. Glad you enjoyed them.