Hi from France

[FalconryFriends]

Hi,

we are new to forums and have recently joined the IFF. we are just feeling our way around at the moment. We live deep in the French countryside and keep harris hawks and goshawks. We are registered breeders though have not bred goshawks yet. we have been preparing for it for three years now and hope to produce some this year. Our birds are all calling to each other now ... music to the ears.

Frantz and Renée-Paule

[gengis]

welcome to the forum.this is one of the better ones.everyone friendly and some terrific posts.regards bill england

[Saluqi]

Welcome to NAFEX!! There are many goshawk and Harris Hawk aficionados here. Enjoy!

Where do your goshawks originate? Are they wild birds from France?

[FalconryFriends]

Thanks for the welcome. We have a mix of goshawks. Some are French, some finnish and some European. We are allowed to trap one in the wild every year, so one of the French is wild ... we hope the same permit for this year. Regulations are tight in France. Are you allowed to trap in the wild still?

Mina

[Saluqi]

Thanks for the welcome. We have a mix of goshawks. Some are French, some finnish and some European. We are allowed to trap one in the wild every year, so one of the French is wild ... we hope the same permit for this year. Regulations are tight in France. Are you allowed to trap in the wild still?

Mina

Yes, we do have a wild take, but the policy of which birds may be taken varies from state to state. Here in New Mexico, we have to put our name in a lottery for goshawks, Harris Hawks, and peregrine falcons. I have a male and female goshawk, both from the wild and both imprints.

Here's my female:



The male:

[FalconryFriends]

She is absolutely beautiful. Unusual colouring (compared to those we see in France). How old is she? We can take a young goshawk from the nest, but must leave the others. A guard accompanies us. The difficulty is finding a nest in the wild. We have an enormous number of trees and forests here and as the goshawk is so 'invisible', a nest is difficult to find. Last year we spent a great deal of time looking. We are hopeful for this year and believe we have found one less than 1 Km away. Currently we have 7 goshawks, 3 of which are imprints.

[FalconryFriends]

This is one of our French goshawks. she is 7 years old now.

Not sure if this will work as it's a link ... can't find a way to attach the photo at the moment ... looking for the familiar paperclip

[Saluqi]

Thanks, she will be two years old this Spring. That was her first molt into adult plumage. Can you post some photos of your birds and facilities?

Where in France are you located? In the late 1990's I spent nearly 4 weeks in a small town in the east of France called Joinville. It was a very rural area with a lot of farm land and deer in the forest.

[FalconryFriends]

Hmmmmmm it didn't work ?????

[FalconryFriends]

We are in the Loire Valley ... roughly centre. I am English and the other is French. Why can't I attach the photo? Did you spend long in France?

Mina

[Saluqi]

Hmmmmmm it didn't work ?????

Check here:

http://www.nafex.net/showthread.php?t=1407

[FalconryFriends]

Let's try this then.
<a href="http://s701.photobucket.com/albums/ww16/FalconryFriends_Mina/?action=view&current=FrantzandBella.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww16/FalconryFriends_Mina/FrantzandBella.jpg" border="0" alt="Frantz and La Belle"></a>

[FalconryFriends]

[FalconryFriends]

Bingo

[FalconryFriends]

About posting more photos ... have loads on my website if I am allowed to say that. Excuse me if I am not.

[Saluqi]

About posting more photos ... have loads on my website if I am allowed to say that. Excuse me if I am not.

Sure post the address.

[FalconryFriends]

www.falconryfriends.com Are you a breeder?

[Saluqi]

www.falconryfriends.com Are you a breeder?

No, more than I can manage at this time.

[FalconryFriends]

I can understand that. all our time is taken up with the birds and the goshawks especially: very difficult to get away and organise someone to feed them etc.

[Saluqi]

Very nice website, I'd love to visit. Is that your setter in the hunting photos?

[FalconryFriends]

Thank you very much. It's in its infancy at the moment.

Ulysse (the English setter) is no longer with us. He lived to hunt and only to hunt.

Mina

[FalconryFriends]

When my other half gets back I am going to show him the photos of your goshawks .... they are amazing. How many do you have? do you have other birds?

[FalconryFriends]

Hi Paul,

Frantz just took a look at your photos ... stunned. What kind of goshawks are they? Are they American? What weight do they fly at?

Mina

[Saluqi]

Hi Paul,

Frantz just took a look at your photos ... stunned. What kind of goshawks are they? Are they American? What weight do they fly at?

Mina

Hi Mina,

Yes, they are North American Goshawks. They were both taken from the wild as downy chicks from a region here in New Mexico where the gosses tend to be a bit larger and bit darker than "typical" NA Goshawks - some folks call them "Apache" Goshawks. The male finished his 7th season this year, and he hunted at about 720 grams, though we had a very warm winter, in past seasons he flew at higher weights. The female hunted around 930 g, she is not nearly as dark as the male.

[FalconryFriends]

Hi again,

Thanks for that. It's very interesting.

French female goshawks hunt at around 1k 60gm (even in the first year) and the male hunts at around 700gm in his first year ... after that he flies at around 730gm. It seems like our goshawks in France are very different to yours. Frantz is surprised by this because we are at approximately the same latitude. Our Finnish goshawk (the female) flies at 1k 220gm. Despite all this I wouldn't mind betting that the 'character' is the same

At three years old some French goshawks have yellow eyes and some red: why is unknown.

Your birds really are beautiful

Mina

[Saluqi]

Thanks, I think all goshawks are beautiful. It's truly amazing to think that these birds have a different look in different regions of the world, but like you said, they all tend to share the same character.

What do you typically hunt with gosses and Harris Hawks? Here, I hunt hare (black-tailed jack rabbits) and cottontail rabbits with the female, and ducks if I'm lucky. With the male, I hunt cottontails and scaled quail.

[FalconryFriends]

We hunt pheasants, rabbits, hare (if we are lucky), ducks. Where ducks are concerned, La Belle (a French goshawk) always traps the duck in the water, and returns to the bank by flapping her wings, with the duck. We don't hunt with the males now because they are in reproduction.

Frantz says (I am translating for him) that before he hunted with a harris couple together ... one flying one on the glove. Turned out to be great hunting strategy because the male learnt to help the female to trap hare by diverting it in her direction. The female was trained to hunt rabbits and hare, the male the pheasants and ducks. This couple is in reproduction now too and are experienced and excellent parents.

Frantz and Mina