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Is it just me, or is there a book here- a wonderful tale of Hannah the Goshawk! The photos are absolutely breathtaking and I adore the updates, thank you so much for sharing them here with us.

FB

Freebird:

Is it just me, or is there a book here- a wonderful tale of Hannah the Goshawk! The photos are absolutely breathtaking and I adore the updates, thank you so much for sharing them here with us.

What a cool idea!  You could get all kinds of books out of this story.  "The Wonderful Tale of Hannah the Goshawk" screams children's book title to me (especially if it's written from Hannah's point of view).  Then there's "Raptor Lover:  A Falconer's Biography", and "Falconry for Dummies", and ...

I would fall into the "Falconry for Dummies" {me} catagory.

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Southwestern New Mexico

raptrlvr:

I would fall into the "Falconry for Dummies" {me} catagory.

 

hee hee (but I doubt it....)

 Another fabulous series Raptr. Thanks again!

Its been a while since I updated this thread, so here goes.

I have been flying Hannah almost every day and she is finally starting to figure out that in order for her to survive, she has to make the "kill" on what she catches. Here are a couple of shots of her hunting progress. I hope the pictures don't offend anyone, but, this is what raptors do and what nature is all about.

Hannah on her first cottontail

Hannah on her first jack rabbit

 

And here is a shot of her flying today although she didn't catch anything. All images taken with Nikon D200 and Nikon 70-300mm VR lens

 

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Southwestern New Mexico

What can anyone say but WOW!!!!  Our little Hannah has grown up!!!  Outstanding shots, and you must me so proud of her progress!  Thanks so very much for bringing Hannah into our lives.

PS Do you use the dog to help "flush" her prey?

You don't need it but I totally support your hobby.  That last flight shot is over the top.  I really appreciate making your hobby available to the schools in your area, a very important aspect of what you do.

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Latest Birds: Black-throated Green Warbler, Pine Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Rufous-backed Robin, Crissal Thrasher

What a proud-looking little "girl" she is, with her first kill!!

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!

Thanks to all. When she is on the kill is the time you have to be really careful around her. Raptors are very protective of their kill and will attack you if they think you are trying to steal their food. Hannah weighs about 30 ozs and the jack rabbit she caught is in the 5 lb range. I am still waiting for the ducks to come into our area because goshawks are extremely good at catching ducks in flight. The dog does not do any flushing. They point game hiding in the grass or the bushes and stay in a point until I walk up to where the dog is at and the game then flushes as I approach. Then the bird leaves the glove and trys to catch the game. Sometimes they catch, sometimes they don't.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Thanks so much for the update, Raptr......Hanna's intensity is mesmerizing.  She is truly showing her "raptor-ness" (is that a word?)

I really love being able to follow her "journey".  Thank you!

Go Hannah!

This is the first time I've been on the photography portion of Whatbird and this was the first thread I looked at. I think this has ruined all the other threads for me! This is just so cool! I do some volunteer work at a raptor rehab center the next county over so I get to see lots of beautiful birds up close, but I think Hannah takes the prize. I can't wait 'til she gets to full adult plumage.

I have some questions. I have a bunch of Red-tailed hawks around my farm, and I have a fairly decent camera, but I can never get good pics of them in flight. What am I probably doing wrong? I tend to mainly always use manual focus because I can't seem to get the AF points onto the birds quick enough when they are moving.

And, I bet you know this Raptrlvr - There was a juvenile RT hawk that killed a cottontail in my front yard last week. That poor bird sat on top of that rabbit for a long, long time but never took a bite of it. It was as if the bird just didn't quite know how to get started. It kept looking at the rabbit as if it was expecting the meaty parts to just appear or something. After about 20 minutes another hawk flew overhead and scared the youngster off. Is this normal when they're young or do they usually start ripping into the prey?

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- Steve

Latest lifers: Whooping Crane, Prairie Falcon, Fox Sparrow

Raptr...I was thinking....(which is somewhat odd for me....)  It is so wonderful that we all seem to "own" a little piece of Hannah....

We cheer her progress and successes...

Marvel in her development....

Congratulate you in your work with her...

And fall in love with your incredible photos....

Thank you for sharing this journey with us.

Raptrlvr - Probably a dumb question but I don't know much about Raptors.............how did you determine that you had a female?  Is there a gender difference with Goshawks, or did you have DNA sexing done?  I had DNA sexing done on my parrot to determine gender so I was just curious how you found out.

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Life List: 139
Latest: Cedar Waxwing!!!!!!!