First hawk is an adult female passage bird. She was adult and have very bad condition when my friend get her (from some keeper that catch her and keep her in small cage). There are lots of defect with her… there are scar on her face and somehow her nerve is not in good condition anymore.

Since he have bad experience with human, it take a month for me to manned and train her. Even after a month, she is still hesitate to come sometimes… (by the way, she is very moody). Luckily after 2 month she show her true form and she become an impressive ‘hunter’… I never expect a hawk with the condition to become a fierce hunter like her… She is very brave to catch a very large moorhen… the moorhen is even larger than her… she try to grab the moorhen but because of the size, the moorhen manage to drag her to the pond nearby and she nearly drown. She is also fast enough to catch a common mynah. She ‘run away’ few month back… due to a pair of kites that chase her away from my friend house. (I guess the pair have some nest nearby that is why there are more aggressive toward any other bird of prey in that area)… I wish her luck and hope she have a good life out there… and I am sure she will… since she is a passage bird… and compared to the time she come to me, her condition is totally different.

The second hawk that I train this year is an adult male passage hawk. He is very nice, I think this is the nicest Crested Goshawk that I encounter so far…She is sweet and fast… very good behavior… She fly free by the first week I train her (the owner sent to me the second day the trapper catch her)… and she went to hunting the second week! I suspect she is the record for all passage crested Goshawk (because normally it take more than 2 week for hawk to be able to go hunting). At first the owner plan to breed her with the first hawk that I train. They get along very well and always call to each other. Too bad the female left.

The third crested goshawk that I train this year is a young passage male hawk. She is more stubborn and only eat on my fist on the forth day I get her! Having said that, by the seventh day, she is very calm and socialize well with everyone… the different is that she didn’t like to sit on the bow perch… but on the ground… the owner take it back and will continue to fly her… deep inside me, I think she have a big potential to be a fierce hunter looking at the way she come to my fist and grab the meat…
And till the forth hawk coming… I wish all falconer out there good luck… (I will update this ‘training story” again if I have the chances to train the forth one this year)

However, since my budget is very small and I also thinking of getting the african hawk eagle, it make me a bit confuse. By the way, I received another quotation for African hawk eagle… which is USD 4800 per head C&F my nearest airport. It seem like if we have money, there are lots of thing we can get..

Back to the African Goshawk, I proceed to send application letter to my local veterinary department. I am not very sure if currently my country have allowed import from Africa or not… if not, then no choice but I have to wait… until the bird flu is really over.

During checking out the species (African Goshawk), seem like they are very capable and willing bird. One of posting in international falconry forum mention that they can take a guinea fowl which weight more than a kilogram… even the hawk weight is not even half a kilogram! That is very impressive.

One more things is that this species seem like capable of catching up with the common mynah! There are lots of common mynah in my location and with this species, it would be a great outing for me.

Some may ask what is the different (hunting) capabilities between African Goshawk and Asian crested Goshawk… well, their size is about the same. I haven’t fly any African Goshawk, but I do fly Crested Goshawk. If African Goshawk is capable of getting all species that many falconer in Africa talk about, then the differences of hunting capabilities between them are large! (having said that, in some location like Taiwan, the Crested Goshawk is larger compared to Crested Goshawk in South East Asian) Crested Goshawk in South East Asian is smaller and the quarries that they take also smaller.

Crested Goshawk rarely able to get common mynah. The only way for them to get it is if the condition is very upperhand for them like the mynah is not ready, they are wet etc.

Well, lets hope I can get some African Goshawk in my collection… and you can hear more comment about the comparation.

Here is a video of hunting with Crested Goshawk:

Enjoy!

I have made the order and now waiting for the CITES and all the necessary document. Hopefully everthing is fine and I can get a good quality bird soonest…

Here is some information about african hawk eagle in wiki.

The African Hawk Eagle (Aquila spilogastra) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.

The African Hawk Eagle breeds in tropical Sub-Saharan Africa. It is a bird of wooded hills, building a stick nest about 3 feet (almost 1 meter) in diameter in the fork of a large tree. The clutch is generally one or two eggs.

This is a small to medium-sized eagle at about 55–65 cm in length. The upper parts are blackish. Its underparts are white heavily streaked with black. The underwing flight feathers are white with a black trailing edge. The underwing coverts are mostly black with white spots.

Sexes are similar, but young birds are brown above and rufous coloration replaces the black underparts of the adult.

The African Hawk Eagle hunts small mammals, reptiles, and birds up to the size of a francolin. The call is a shrill kluu-kluu-kluu.

Once I got my African Hawk Eagle… the fun will start again… I will try to post the update about the training and hunting…

Here is some photo of the eagle…

We start the day at about 5pm, and I think it is just nice. Not very hot and still able to get few ‘shot’…

crested goshawk catching a white brested waterhen

The first place that we go, we found few white -breasted waterhen. we release the hawk 3 times. One down and 2 more able to run away. Well, the one that is down, is by me. I am the one that release the hawk for that one… first of the day…

Later on, we move further into the village. now we found some kids which is playing nearby. They show us a spot which we found 4 waterhen. we release the hawk 2 times and manage to get one of it.

crested goshawk

we went back at about 6pm plus… I think it is not a bad day at all.

This friend seem like have addicted to falconry!!! … he will go out almost everyday… sometimes in the morning before go to work!

Falconry with crested goshawk. Note: This photo is only a photo from internet..

He call and thanks me saying that I have ‘bring’ him to this ‘hobbies’ of him…

Btw, I think he have a good hawk… in one good day… I mean in a trip of about 2-3 hours, last weekend… he mention that the hawk manage to get 4 bird (quarries) whereby he come across 6 at that day… hmmm only 2 manage to escape… not very bad day !

He also tell me that this morning, they manage to ‘capture’ a squirrel… the bird somehow didn’t kill the squirrels, but due to the stress put on the head, the squirrels somehow ‘unconcious’… he take back the squirrels…

oh… btw, if you wonder what species that he hunt with… he hunt with a crested goshawk… the hunting weight is 345 gram…

Initially he want to change from changeagle hawk eagle hood to crested goshawk hood, but the friends which is the hood maker decide to give him another one (a changeagle hawk eagle hood) for a sourvenir…

Therefore I decide to take some photo to compare the size of those 2 species… Here below is the photo… I hope you enjoy the photo:

Changeable hawk eagle hood vs Crested Goshawk hood

Changeable hawk eagle hood vs Crested Goshawk hood

Changeable hawk eagle hood vs Crested Goshawk hood

Changeable hawk eagle hood vs Crested Goshawk hood

Shaikh Khalifa’s gesture aims at highlighting the significance of preserving the endangered species.

Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Head of the Higher Organising Committee of the exhibition and Board Member of the Emirates Falconers Club, applauded the efforts of Shaikh Khalifa in preservation of the land birds, adding that the gift highlighted the UAE’s efforts at breeding captive birds and using them in falconry — a very important sport in the UAE and other GCC countries.

“The President has been generous with us since the very first edition of the exhibition,” Al Mazrouei said.

Preservation

“The gesture underlines preservation of the heritage in order to pass it on to another generation intact, alongside the protection of the environment,” he added.

Al Mazrouei stressed on the importance of supporting falconers and awareness programmes aiming at encouraging people to preserve and sustain nature and wild life — in keeping with the President’s instructions.
Source: http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10251028.html

While here below is a video of a golden eagle taking out deer…