Hello,

I recently got a job at a wildlife park that has several birds of prey. Some of the birds are wild birds that were injured and cannot be released. The others are raised in captivity and imprinted on humans. None of them are falconry trained. I want to learn about falconry so that these birds can be given the gift of flight.

I've been at the park for a week now and have had my first notable experience with the birds of prey. First a little more information then a brief story.

We have at the zoo 2 Red Tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), 2 Red Shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus), a Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), 2 Screech Owls (Megascops asio), 2 Barn Owls (Tyto alba), a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), and a Barred Owl (Strix varia).

I ordered a Gauntlet that arrived in the mail on Friday and today was my first day back at work with the glove (The zoo only had one glove before I ordered mine!). Myself and one of the other keepers took two of the birds for a walk. She knew the proper way to glove them as described on several falconry sites on the internet. She took one of the Red Tails and I got the Great Horned on the glove and we took them for a walk. It was very obvious they had spent a fair bit of time around people. The Great Horned especially. She sat calmly on the glove. Only time she clicked or hissed was when I first went into her mew. Once on the glove she sat quietly the whole time. Never once tried to bate. She does have damn strong feet though. My hand was sore from her holding on as I walked for about 15 mins around the zoo grounds.

I can't get over her eyes! Absolutely amazing! Unfortunately she is a rehab bird who had been shot and the damage to her left wing is irreparable. The red tail was hit by a car but we believe is at least capable of limited flight.

I believe the next step in training the red tail, now that I know she will calmly sit on a glove, is to train her to go from glove to glove for food rewards?