Quote Originally Posted by Mandragen View Post
Hours was an exageration, but it was pretty funny. I don't put it on and annoy her with it for my own entertainment, I'm not mean. I had my sponsor check it out and he hasn't seen anything wrong with the hood, like I said we are working on it. I will check into the fitting again just to make sure that it's right, thank you for pointing this out. I walk with her on the fist occasionally and I have a friend that also goes with us nine times out of ten. My friend is also a professional animal trainer with experience in marine mammals, birds, primates, etc. Sometimes he will walk right next to the hawk, maybe 2-3 feet off her back and she doesn't seem to care, I don't even hold her jesses.
Can I assume this is a Redtail? They often are not nearly as reactive as some of the falcons and accipiters which is why they are favored for the newly initiated.
Another thing to keep in mind, sometimes, as annoying as it might be, it can be beneficial and actually safer for the bird to be somewhat leery and reactive. There are situations out in the field where being totally at ease will get them killed...for instance by a gunner that needs to 'plink' something, or perhaps an unknown dog, or cat, or car, or train, etc.. A good bit of falcony is based on balancing tameness with just enough edge of the wild to allow the bird to exhibit the behaviors that we find so fascinating about them. If we just wanted a nice looking bird to hang out with, we'd all have parrots right?