Karen took me to John Carmichael’s falconry school for a half-day introductory course. It was wonderful!
The day started with John (jr) setting about 15 birds out on little perches, and complaining about the owls. They keep lots of owls because they are very popular (thanks to Harry Potter), but they don’t really like them. Owls, it seems, don’t have great eyesight and aren’t at all wise, so they don’t make great birds of prey. Maybe in an effort to justify his complaints, John (jr) started the flying with owls. The first owl was beautiful, but didn’t seem to want to get off the ground. When it did, it wasn’t interested in food. The next owl was much better, although it wasn’t able to land accurately on my glove. The third owl was the best (of the owls): it flew easily, landed well, and was careful when taking the food.
The Harris Hawk was the best part of the day. We had to carry it away from the other birds before we started. Then John let it go, but it didn’t go very far: Harris Hawks follow their owner. We continued to walk down the road, and the hawk kept us in sight. When I held up some food, it would land on my arm, grab the food, and then fly off to a nearby tree or post. It was amazing.