The Art of Falconry

I’ve done a few things this summer that have been out of the scope of my normal everyday life (see goat yoga), but the really awesome, special, coolest thing was, yup, you guessed it: falconry.

I’m a big fan of birds. Small birds are cool… but the big stealthy hunter types are extra exciting to me. You know the type: the birds of prey who are built with specialized evolutionary features that allow them to do their job effectively (silent wings, aerodynamic features, etc). The hawks. The owls. The falcons.

Let’s talk falconry! This particular trip was not supposed to happen, at this location anyway. I was looking for falconry-related things to do, and emailed this other falconer first (based on a Google search of “falconry near me”), but he was in the process of moving locations, and did not have his license in the state yet. So, winging it (ha), I checked out another falconer’s website who had been the second choice Google gave me nearby. Note “nearby” in Google’s brain means “here’s a map of the whole Eastern part of the U.S. - good luck!” This is me, winning the interwebs.

Not exactly the same as Louis’s version of mudding (if you get this reference I’ll give you extra points)

Turns out the email I sent to the second place was the winner winner chicken dinner (this is fitting - keep reading). The falconer’s name is Henry, and he was very helpful putting the plan into place for this visit. As it turns out, Monadnock Falconry was the coolest reason I’ve found to visit the granite state.

New Hampshire! Pretty state and all, especially this time of year, if you’re in the mood to battle everyone and their uncle on the Kancamagus but I don’t really think of it as a super exciting place to visit on the regular even though it is fairly close-by. Now I can confirm that falconry will get me there, any day of the week.

Fast forward to falconry day: Mahood is a Harris’s hawk at Monadnock Falconry. The symbiotic relationship between falconer and (in this case) hawk is really cool to watch and to experience. This particular morning adventure was called a “hawk walk”, where you walk the property while the chosen bird flies along to bushwhack with you - he perched in the trees, walked around in the mud, hung out on gloves. You could tell he was paying attention to Henry the whole time, and was having a bit of fun with the whole thing. No stress on the animal - that’s my one must-have requirement when I go to experiences involving animals. It was super apparent that these birds (Mahood and the three other bird residents) are all very well cared for.

Ever have a large bird land on your arm and take food from your gloved hand? It’s literally the coolest. When Henry hands you a piece of chicken and tells you to hold it loosely in your glove for Mahood to take, of course you comply! As you can see from the photos, I was totally not fan girling at what was happening. At all. (A lot).

I suppose now’s a good time to show you the art I made after the trip. So… Voilà! My blind contour version of Mahood. This one currently hangs on the wall of my art space.

Mahood on a glove

See that little grey round thing on his ankle? That’s a bell; a little jingle from the bell from up in the tree, or a jingle when he was coming to land on your arm for a snack was helpful.

So that’s the gist of how my very first falconry day went, sparing you a million nitty gritty details. I’d love to go back - to a bird nerd like me, it was definitely worth the time, the drive, and the cost, to get to see a glimpse into the bond between this special bird and his workmate human.

On a slightly more personal note, if I stop to think about it, birds have really shown up for me throughout my life. The little screech owl in the tree outside my window when I worked in the mailroom… the goldfinch that landed on my art room window this summer on two separate occasions… the thousands of crows that would be flying overhead on my nightly commute… and the peregrine falcons who lived outside the stairwell of the 14th floor office I worked at downtown a number of years ago. Various owls. Hawks. They’ve kind of all just followed me around through life - the cool part is how much I notice them, and the more I notice them, the more they show up. These birds have been the constants for me even when everything else shifts.

I’m super glad I decided to check out falconry! Have you had a cool animal-related experience before? Tell me about it in comments!