"Falconry Friday" is a weekly photo / video essay that I've done for five or six years now following our hawks through the hunting season. Unfortunately, the internet being what it is, we've felt compelled to migrate as prior platforms have been overrun with unrelated political sparring.

If you're following from said prior platforms, welcome back!     If you're new to the concept, I , my wife, and my eldest daughter are licensed falconers and we hunt with three female hawks -- two sibling Harris' Hawks named Tonks & Dora that hunt together and a Red-Tailed Hawk named Lily that hunts solo.

 We hunt roughly four days a week from August to March, mostly for rabbits and pheasants.  March to August is our off-season when the birds are molting a new set of feathers.

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Tonks and Dora are starting their fifth season now , and are at the very peak of their game -- in a typical year catching enough rabbits to see themselves through both the hunting season as well as the molt.

Tonks & Dora back in the mew after having spent the summer free-lofted in the outdoor flight chamber:

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Tonks and Dora have completed their molt and are about 2-3 weeks away from getting into the field.

Lily is a little farther behind - she still has about a month of feather-growth to complete (as well as waiting for a little cooler weather).

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I'm sure it'll take me some trial and error to figure out all the controls on this platform - not to mention migrating all my photos and videos from elsewhere.  As we go, I'll include background posts on all the behind-the-scenes stuff that has to happen to keep the birds happy, healthy, and in compliance with the rigid state and federal laws regulating falconry.  I'll also leave the comments section turned on for discussion.

Hope to see you again soon!