FALCONRY: The lmprint Harris’ Hawk 

Sad to here it was cut short ; I know the feeling

He lived fast, and it was bound to happen sooner or later, I was just happy that I got to spend that long with him. There were a number of times over the previous seasons where I thought he was going to be a goner, unfortunately he tested his luck just once too often.

Thanks for that input

Yes I’d say more for the experienced and not for the novice fox sure

Ah cheer mate; the part two of that article will make you chuckle !

Our yellow billed kites came from there

@@falconry.davesharpenatureboy oh really i remember my good mate Colin Asquith worked there many years ago and Carlos did you ever meet them Dave

Frounce is a disease found in birds , pigeons deffo have it a fair bit , I guess cause they flock. Often seen as cheesy deposits in mouth, tongue , throat . Infected birds stop eating and starve , if you’re hawk eats an Infected hawk it’s likely to catch it

@DAVE SHARPE: Nature Boy My spelling let me down there, thanks for the reply. Assuming it's essential getting to the quarry as soon as you can each time to check them over 👍

Usually you can , it can be treated but you need to see it beifre they stop eating ideally!

Yes alan was imprinted with his brother so recognises hh as kin too, I think…

Their all in my head ; but there’s a bit of a que ! More to come don’t worry

Hh are quite prey driven . Expect Far more likely hood of one screaming a lot first couple years especially if imprinted and not hunted . If you don’t hunt you’ll need to o Or all about it as the bird will still kill stuff if it gets the chance

Yes o k ow what mine says hehe. You’ll notice they have a little noise to say ‘ there’s some Thing hiding under here ‘ one to say ‘look out eagle/ coyote ‘ when they see a dog or microlight …. And angry growl , and so on

Deffo not a choice for any novice or those not understanding Imprinting well ( as mentioned ) I think you gain a diffenrt bond and with imprints hunting wise you often get ‘more fire in the belly ‘ but I’m not the best to ask as when it comes to hunting birds I e always preferred parent reared ! I will say alan is a top level hh, but maybe with all the work the lads out into him he would be anyway? The Argument between imp and pr Comes down to only one thing ; personal choice and your enjoyment …

@@falconry.davesharpenatureboy The trouble is for some imprinting has become seen as a lazy option to avoid manning, and for 99% that try it with a HH will run into serious issues, even if they won't publicly admit it. Kyle and Tom are far more experienced and knowledgeable than the vast majority of Falconers out there, and they have put a massive amount of time and effort into the imprint HH. Probably more than they would have needed to with a PR bird. Would a well hacked and served PR HH end up as awesome as Tom's bird, clearly Kyle thinks not. But Zara has had a good season so far. My concern is do videos like this normalise the idea of imprinting HH. Even though we know that most people that try it, won't get it right. And then what happens to the unwanted aggressive/noisey HH for the next 25 off years. I would love to see a video from the Coulson's drawing on their massive experience giving their opinion on imprinting HH. Would make for a good balance on the subject.

The video as mentioned at the start has to be taken in context ,especially the bits re they’re not a beginners bird in any way . I do t think the coulsons lime them so probably have little experience of doing a good job of any , much like myself . Yeats ago breeders worked out that imprint and ai gosses were the east way to breed them, they then said to everyone fly imprints even a novice can etc etc they’re much easier … I disagree ! Hood imprints take good falconers not novices and even then you gotta want to fly an imorint , or like me in some cases it may be a bird that you can get imprinted or not at all …

It’s a video in my head on a que hehe! Very good and well worth it for something. Different, if you have the slopes and could Flush enough quarry they make awesome soaring birds . One lady ha hi red gates off the glove with some success but these birds are built to soar

Thanks , how’s the falconry there ?

Erm… good luck hehehe