Some photos from a falconry show

[AgingEyes]

Went to a small falconry show today. Here are some shots. Any one wants to ID them?















He has an interesting way to shoot bird-in-flight...



A couple more of hawks/falcons were also in the show.

All shots taken with 70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR.

[Grandpaw]

I'm not sure but I think in the first two the ID of the one with the glasses on is Betty, Jeff :thumbsup:

[big baldo]

Nice photos!
The first one is a goshawk, the rest are harris hawks. both are great birds for falconry.

[AgingEyes]

A couple more:








I was told that falcon has black on black eyes while hawks have two tone eyes. Guess that's one way to tell a hawk from a falcon? I'm very sure one of the bird in these two photos is a falcon. See that eye? No, it's not yellow

Also, one of the trainers told me about her experiences in training great horned owls. She said when she for some reason got into a fight with hawks/eagles, they would stay in front of her, facing her and fight. But when it comes to great horned owl, she said the owl would go around you right away and attack you from behind.

[big baldo]

The eyes of the goshawk will actually turn red as it matures. Makes it look like the devil bird!! They are great hunters, a real blast to hunt them from the fist.
An easy way to tell which is which while in flight is to look at their wing tips. Falcons will have long pointed wings with their longest primary flight feathers will be the second (from the front of the bird), giving the falcon a "pointed" look to their wings. Hawks(accipiters) and buteos(redtail harris etc) have their 3rd or 4th primary flight feathers being the longest, giving them a rounded look.
Falcons also have a very pronounced tomial "tooth" on their upper mandible used to sever the necks of bird in flight.
Your first pic of the second set is a beautiful Ferruginous hawk (some call them a frog mouth). It is the largest and heaviest of all North American hawks.
The second pic is of a mature peregrine. The F-16 of the bird world!!
Thanks for sharing these!

[targetman]

Great shot`s, but boy i wish we had your Weather.

[AgingEyes]

Great shot`s, but boy i wish we had your Weather.

Funny thing is, I prefer overcast sky these days