More Falconry! (again!) (Image heavy thread)

matwhittington · 2012-05-28T19:47:23+0100

Hello all. Having been on two falconry days recently, I have ended up with a stack (hundreds!) of pictures of some rather beautiful birds of prey. I already posted a couple of threads from my first day out a couple of weeks ago. Here are some from a day spent at a small falconry centre in the New Forest. This was a more 'hands on' actually handling and flying the birds rather than a purely photo op... but I took the opportunity to take a couple of gigs of pictures in any case:) For anyone interested, the centre was called Forest Falconry and I cannot recommend it enough. The people there are very friendly, passionate and knowledgable and it made for a really good day out. A spot of sun in the terrible weather (remember that a couple of weeks ago) was a blessing too. The day (which was a gift to me) included plenty of flying and a pub lunch (and we took a Gyrfalcon to the pub with us too!:shock:) This is a hybrid Peregrine/Lanner Falcon getting excited in the morning Red Tailed Hawk adopts a jaunty angle Barney Oi! Harris Hawk attracts attention from the ground... ...and up a tree I think this is a Peregrine Falcon Talons! these are from a rather magnificent Golden Eagle called Morgan... ...and here he is ready for the hunt Hedwig? Snowy Owl comes into land and finally, a spot of cuteness. This is the chick of a Falcon which is being hand-reared. I am sorry I can't for the life of me remember what species, although I know he will be very darkly plumed when he grows up, so maybe a Sooty Falcon I hope you like these. Any C&C welcome as ever. I promise that the next thread I put together will not be birds! (well mostly:wink:). There are loads more on my flickr stream if anyone wishes to see more. All of these were taken with the K5 and either the DA*200, or the Sigma 100-300 f4. Cheers