What follows is pictures of my trip to WY, USA in the summer of '98. The pictures depict actions and situations that involve LICENSED falconers. I have not included pictures of Gos nests, nor the immediate habitat surrounding the nests we visited. I have done this to protect the nest sites and adult birds from disturbances. We did however visit some of them, and I received a good education as to the ferocity of the N.A. Goshawk. And what a thrill it is to get "slammed" by an adult female Gos!!!
This is typical Gos habitat, and we found many nests within 3/4 mile of the spot this picture was taken from.
This is a secondary site for a pair of Ferruginous Hawks, and by the size of it we can only imagine how many years it has been there.
This is an active nest only 25 feet from the secondary nest, with three healthy eyasses in it. The parents were nowhere to be found when we arrived, but as soon as we climbed up to the nest, they appeared from above.
This is me, holding a Ferruginous eyass. The parents never decended below 400(+/-) feet during our brief time at the eyrie.
This is a typical Prairie falcon cliff. We found many cliffs occupied with more than one kind of raptor. Notice the distinct, tell-tale "whitewash".
My kind of choice.....with every Prairie nest we visited containing 5 eyasses, one could easily choose excactly the bird one wanted. The Prairie falcon population is doing extremely well in the west!
This is Storm, at 29 days old.
***All actions were performed by LICENSED falconers***
