Falconing experience - Part 2
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 8:49 This is our second post at Frau A's photoshooting experience with falcons (first blog entry is here).
Frau A's event started with a younger female falcon that had very little training experience (in the first post). After that, Herr Schmidt & his associate brought out a second bird. This female was a veteran flyer with trainers and guests.
The falcons travel in the car with their hoods on (first falcon is on the right, second/older one on the left):
Herr Schmidt and his associate kept the hood on the second falcon until the first was back in the car...
...then the trainer took the falcon's hood off and let the bird acclimate for a while on her glove:
This falcon was lighter in color than the first bird, but not nearly as fidgety - its maturity really showed.
It was another very handsome bird:
This time, we could do exercises without an attached rope and up to maybe 20+ meters in distance.
Therefore we all walked around the side of the farm house - down this path in the photograph below:
In the video you'll see the trainer take the falcon, Frau A walks away a bit, and it flies right back. Well done:
That was quick - no hesitation like the young falcon. And like the first bird, these two definitely got along well togther.
You'll see in the photo below (background, upper left) the trainer standing down the path, ready for the falcon.
The trainer and Frau A continued sending the falcon back & forth a few times:
Here's a video of the falcon flying to Frau A - it's cool to see the head-on view of its landing approach, wings spread.
It's also interesting that it only secures the chicken meat that Frau A was holding, and doesn't eat it immediately:
After it landed and settled on Frau A's glove, it seemed to pose for us:
The process continued - in the pictures below, the trainer (background, left) stands up the path as the falcon lands:
Here's a cropped version to better see the falcon coming in for a landing on Frau A's glove. Very cool.
Again later,this falcon seemed to pose - it certainly has style!
I was able to catch a few fast action /sequence shots of the landing too (with Alps in the background!):
Like the first bird, it reached a stopping point (and after the treats, it's not motivatable by food anymore).
So we spent a few minutes taking some final photos with these two beautiful models and gorgeous scenery!
I could tell that this part (hint: more posts) of the birthday present was a hit with Frau A. That smile says it all:
Actually, I'm not sure who enjoyed this falcon experience more, Frau A or myself. I got to take some great shots of my beautiful fiancee with some cool falcons, fall colors, and the Alps. It was a perfect afternoon in Upper Bavaria.
We eventually had to bid a final farewell to the second falcon back at the entrance to the farm house:
A special "thank you" to Herr Schmidt and his associate, and their two great falcons - we really had a nice time.
Herr J ... 4 Comments 
Reader Comments (4)
What a cool idea! And I love the pictures. It's often so hard to capture animal movement, but this looks like a great opportunity to really get up close.
Whoops! Looks like you've got a clean-up of comment spam in aisle 3 there...
What I came here to say was: what a beautiful way to spend the day!
The photos of the hooded falcons reminded me of old shots of Canadian/American football from before the war - they used to wear leather helmets something like those.
Ian - yeah, we get spam like that a lot. All gone now. Thanks for the nice comment - I know what you mean about the leather "helmet" - very cool, but must be a bit depressing for the birds.
Sarah - Thanks! It was tough, but good light and a fast camera really helped.
Cheers,
Herr J
Was in Rochester today on errands and Aunt Mary Ann mentioned how gorgeous the falcon pictures and video were (she saw them on Facebook). I just checked them out and they are outstanding. What fun!