Over the years, I've become fascinated with a family of red tail hawks that live in trees near my home. They often come to visit my home and prior to taking down a large tree in our backyard, they would often sit up their daily monitoring for food. They would swoop down, I would talk to them and they'd squeal and squawk. They'd bring their fledglings to that tree every summer. There are still trees nearby they visit, but I think they've noticed the lack of one of Jeter always in the backyard... I'm sure my hawk friends were visiting to scope out a large snack. Yikes! I always knew when he was outside and where they were located, so he was safe.
At one point, I have video of them sitting on my deck, and walking around by my back door. I wanted to go out and pet my little friend, but Chris (smartly so!) told me no way. So, I did the next best thing and signed up last summer for the Falconry class on offer at the Hershey Park Hotel in PA.
The class was amazing. The falconer taught us a LOT of information about birds of prey, all of the hoops to jump through to become a falconer and the basics of how they catch, train, and work with their birds. We got to meet and learn about several types of birds, including Harris Hawks, Red Tail Hawks, and he has an Eagle as well---it was huge up close!
At the end of the course, after we've learned so much, we get to see him work in action with the birds and then we had an opportunity to call them as well to us. This really made me want to buy a falconry glove and lean into becoming a falconer... but I'd have to wait until I'm retired and have a ton of time to dedicate to this---it is truly a full time job.
If you have the interest, opportunity and the time (it was a four hour class), I highly recommend this class through the hotel. I learned so much, and despite looking like it might weigh quite a bit, the Harris Hawk was super lightweight!
This experience made me feel even more aware and understanding of the birds I see in my yard, in the woods, and out on the hunt. If you see me outside looking up, just know I've spotted my friends out in the sky.
