Teddy Moritz sends the three pictures at left of a strange day in the field (click on pictures to enlarge).Apparently, Suli the dachshund flushed a rabbit from a brushpile and chased it up a lawn where it tried to dive
into this plastic drain pipe -- a good escape route for a small bunny, perhaps, but this fellow had gotten quite a bit bigger since he last tried this escape strategy!
into this plastic drain pipe -- a good escape route for a small bunny, perhaps, but this fellow had gotten quite a bit bigger since he last tried this escape strategy! The result of this ill-fated escape attempt was that the 
rabbit got stuck head in, and feet out. It was only a second or two before Odessa, the Harris Hawk, slammed into the bolted bunny.
End result: one dead rabbit.
Afterwards, Suli checked the pipe hoping that a few more might come out. You never know!
Teddy uses a Teckel or working miniture dachsund to bolt rabbits to her Harris Hawks. Unlike rabbits in Europe, American rabbits den above ground, like hares, but will tuck into a hole or pipe if pursued by dog or hawk, or if the weather is really terrible out (i.e. freezing rain or really bitter cold).
The Harris Hawk is a native of the Southwest U.S. through Mexico, Central America and into the northern half of South America.
A pretty brown and black bird with long legs and a band of white on the end of it tail, it was named by John James Audubon (he called it a "buzzard") after one of his longtime friends and financial supporters, Ed Harris. Audubon also named a sparrow after Harris.
Unlike most birds of prey, Harris Hawks will hunt in groups in the wild, and this natural tendency may account for why they work so well with humans and dogs. Relatively easy to handle, and often quite affectionate, Harris Hawks are now captive-bred for falconry. I do not believe any birds come from the wild anymore. In fact, it would hardly matter if they did; Harris Hawks are very common, and no one has been a better steward to wild raptors than American falconers who have not only pioneered captive breeding techniques now used all over the world, but who have also been a consistent, powerful and well-educated voice for hawk, falcon and eagle conservation across the globe.
A mid-sized bird, the Harris Hawk is a good bird to use on cottontail rabbits (which are smaller than European rabbits), pigeons, other small birds such as quail, rodents, or even mid0sized birds such a pheasant.
A Harris Hawk will typically perch in the tree line as near as possible to where the human and the dog are flushing quarry, following up the field as the hunting team progresses. If a tree is not available, a hawker may provide a perch in the form of a plastic or bamboo T-topped perch pole.
As you can imagine with four animals in play (hawk, human, dog, and rabbit) there is a lot going on in the field when you are hawking!
.
rabbit got stuck head in, and feet out. It was only a second or two before Odessa, the Harris Hawk, slammed into the bolted bunny.End result: one dead rabbit.
Afterwards, Suli checked the pipe hoping that a few more might come out. You never know!
Teddy uses a Teckel or working miniture dachsund to bolt rabbits to her Harris Hawks. Unlike rabbits in Europe, American rabbits den above ground, like hares, but will tuck into a hole or pipe if pursued by dog or hawk, or if the weather is really terrible out (i.e. freezing rain or really bitter cold).
The Harris Hawk is a native of the Southwest U.S. through Mexico, Central America and into the northern half of South America.
A pretty brown and black bird with long legs and a band of white on the end of it tail, it was named by John James Audubon (he called it a "buzzard") after one of his longtime friends and financial supporters, Ed Harris. Audubon also named a sparrow after Harris.
Unlike most birds of prey, Harris Hawks will hunt in groups in the wild, and this natural tendency may account for why they work so well with humans and dogs. Relatively easy to handle, and often quite affectionate, Harris Hawks are now captive-bred for falconry. I do not believe any birds come from the wild anymore. In fact, it would hardly matter if they did; Harris Hawks are very common, and no one has been a better steward to wild raptors than American falconers who have not only pioneered captive breeding techniques now used all over the world, but who have also been a consistent, powerful and well-educated voice for hawk, falcon and eagle conservation across the globe.
A mid-sized bird, the Harris Hawk is a good bird to use on cottontail rabbits (which are smaller than European rabbits), pigeons, other small birds such as quail, rodents, or even mid0sized birds such a pheasant.
A Harris Hawk will typically perch in the tree line as near as possible to where the human and the dog are flushing quarry, following up the field as the hunting team progresses. If a tree is not available, a hawker may provide a perch in the form of a plastic or bamboo T-topped perch pole.
As you can imagine with four animals in play (hawk, human, dog, and rabbit) there is a lot going on in the field when you are hawking!
.
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