When I saw this man stepping out of his cart with the falcon, I asked if he charged for people to photograph the bird. Turned out he was taking "Lia" to the beach to fly and invited me to come along and take all the pictures I'd like; would I please send him some.
I'm posting this as I've had no free time to go through other pictures, and this was certainly a cool encounter. I got several nice pictures of Lia, and one as she took off (rigged out with a GPS tracker...only she wouldn't come back!) He knew where she was and finally said he had to go get her! He had some interesting stories he shared, and he invited me to return to take more photos, so I'm hoping for some bird-in-flight practice!
We did so many interesting things over the course of the day, and I can hardly wait to return to Catalina in another month for a Chihuly exhibit! It's my new favorite vacation place! (I can't believe we've lived out here for over 40 years and I've come only for day trips scattered over that time!)
What an interesting meeting this was plus photo opportunities for BIF shots! A bonus all round! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time! Enjoy! Fav!
Fascinating "pet" to have - I think birds like this are never truly man's to have, they gift themselves to you for a while. Wonderful majestic things. Nice portrait.
( Not long ago I saw on TV a man living quiet near us rasing Falcon`s for sale. Most to Saudi Arabia. )