David Gifford Photography

The Harris Hawk

Photo: The Harris Hawk

Whilst on holiday in Ireland we visited Ireland's School of Falconry at the magnificent 13th century Ashford castle in County Mayo. The stars of the trip were a pair of Harris Hawks, with whom we had a walk through the beautiful grounds – the birds following us from tree to tree.

Harris Hawks are not the fastest of raptors, but can make up for this by hunting in groups (they're nicknamed the "wolves of the sky"). Their eyesight is also amazing - able to detect a prey item at 2-3 times the distance than a human could detect the same animal. Moreover, they can use their eyes much like a telescope! Add to this their superior resolution of movement (in essence more frames per second) and you have one mean predator.

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Image #94