Hawking with Chad

We went hawking again with Lee and the boys and Chad came along this time. We had a blast. Here's Chad getting some hands on experience.

This is my favorite hawk the American Kestrel. Lee caught this one about two weeks ago. He will already come to Lee's glove and can have him climb up on your finger.

Here i am holding Smitty. Lee named this guy "Smitty" after yours truly!! Thanks Lee!!! I can't wait to take Smitty out to do some hunting.

Smitty standing tall and proud! His colors are beautiful. The males have the grey in the wings and the females have all rust color.


Here Lee called him to the glove for feeding time. Lee holds the glove out with his food and he doesn't come until he blowes the whistle. Pretty cool to see how far this guy has come along in just two weeks.

He sits like this looking puffed up and then when you come up to him he stands up straight.

I love this guy! I always wanted Lee to get one because i have been fascinated with the Kestrel seeing them on the power lines watching the fields for something to eat.

This is a prairie falcon. This guy is really cool too! It is so neat to get to be this close to these hawks. Lee knows them incredibly well, his knowledge of falconry is amazing!!!

Same bird as the picture above just a better shot of his body.

This is a part Gyr and part Prairie Hawk i believe. This hawk is gorgeous! The colors are so different with all the white and black is very cool.

You can see how pretty it is here!

This is the one and only "Cuda" the Harris Hawk. This is the one we took out last time. This time i had the bigger lens along and got some awesome pictures of her! When i zoomed in here i could see my reflection in her eyes.

I love this picture!!! She looks so beautiful and at the same time very intimidating. She makes me understand the expression "Hawk eyes" with how cool her eyes are and she sees everything!!!

These are the killers. They are very powerful!! She gets a hold with these and it's over.

This is her with the hood on. He puts this on when we are done and walking back so that she doesn't get distracted and take off if she sees something.

Here Lee is putting the hood on. It just slides right over her head. This one is hand made by Lee. He has a lot of skill with making his own stuff.

Here is what she does while we are walking through the brush trying to kick out a bunny for her. You can see her looking down searching.

This is her taking off to get ready to hunt.

Here is "The Man" and "The Hawk" Lee and Cuda. They make a great team!!! There is a special bond between these two, they both know each other very well.

A nice picture of her wings here. She has the rabbit under her here and Lee is getting it from her and he will trade her for a treat.

Cuda with her kill. As you can see here she has a really good grip on the rabbit. She saw this thing behind us when we had already walked past it and it went running. She came flying over us and we saw her dive into the brush and she nailed it. Hunting with them is something special to see. It was amazing to see how she could spot this thing and soar and dive into the brush with such precision!! Thanks again Lee!! We had a great time and i know Chad was thrilled with it all and can't wait to go again!!!