Falconry on Mother's Day

Breakfast in bed?  Nah, we took Mom falconing!  Here are 3 peregrine falcons...

And one Dad in a (millennium) falcon shirt.  He says it was unplanned, but the joke is too good and Mom doesn't buy it. 

Here you can see them with their protective hoods on.

They're so cool!

This is an aplomodo falcon from Peru.  

It's wings are folded down to protect the food it just caught.  Adam, the falconer, swung around a lure with bait on it so we could watch the falcon dive and pursue it.  So cool!

A mature peregrine falcon.  You can tell from the yellow beak and feet and darker plummage.

This one, Mia, is younger and still more dappled and gray. The females are quite a bit bigger than the males.

Time to meet some falcons up close.  Tommy was the first of the whole group to go.  He put on his glove and held on to his raw quail meat...

Gave the signal, and Horace flew over to land on him.

One of the trainers helped him hold his arm up because these guys aren't light!

Then Horace flew on to the next guest.  Great job, brave big Boodle!

I was up next. I did great too.  Look at that wingspan!

Daddy loved it...

And so did Mom.

Here's a video of the Kingmans and falcons in action:

Next we posed for a few pictures with Mia.

She got a little frisky with me.  If you don't hold your elbow up, she tries to get up to the highest point on you, which is your head.  Thankfully her trainer had her on a little leash so I didn't become her perch. 

Daddy nailed his master falconer pose. 

Here's Mom with the aplomado falcon.

I was a little nervous about the talons since we didn't wear a glove for this one, but it wasn't bad. 

Tommy loved it!

Maybe he can be Godzilla and a master falconer when her grows up?

All in all, falconry was an incredibly cool experience.  Now if we just knew where to go to get into Millennium Falconry...