Awesome Alpine Action

The beautiful mountains of Alpine are home to a very fun activity. Recently, we went to Sky Falconry (click here to learn more) and met Denise and Kirk, two falconers who know a ton about birds. During my visit I got to take their female Harris’s Hawk (formerly known as a bay-winged hawk), Steam, on a walk.

As soon as we got up the hill, Steam dove into the bushes trying to grab a mouse; although she missed. Later, she got territorial and dive-bombed a Red-tailed Hawk. An amazing part of our walk was flying the hawk.

I got to bring her to my glove by saying (or yelling) “Give me Steam”!!!!! She would use the ground effect (which means the closer to the ground the hawk gets, the less energy it uses to travel the same distance because of less drag) to fly to the glove. Steam would fly onto your glove from: a tree, a perch, a telephone pole, another person’s glove, etc. The first time that she landed on my glove, it was shocking. The more that she landed on my glove, the more comfortable I became with her and it was actually beautiful. To land: she opens her wings, stretches her legs out, and latches her talons onto my glove .

At the end of my visit, I got to throw a day old chicken foot into the air for Steam to catch (she missed mine and Dad’s, but grabbed Mom’s out of mid-air)! This was an experience that I will never forget.