A Harris Hawk Mantling by netkonnexion

A Harris Hawk Mantling

Birds of prey are vulnerable on the ground. They can be attacked by other birds of prey and their kill hijacked. So when they make a kill they 'mantle'. This is where they open their wings and cloak the kill so it cannot be seen by other birds. Then they eat it as quickly as they can so they can get back to the safety of the air once again.

Here you see a trained Harris Hawk mantling his false 'bunny'. It is actually a lure used by the Falconer to train and exercise their birds. Each time the bird catches it they get a small amount of food in a 'fair exchange'.

As taken at a session run by...
http://www.feathersandfur.co.uk/

My other albums today:
http://365project.org/netkonnexion/365/
Identify This! ... http://365project.org/netkonnexion/number03/
Favd.. This is FANTASTIC
September 27th, 2011  
good photo and wonderful info
September 27th, 2011  
beautiful bird and great information, I had seen them do this but didn't realise what it was all about - thanks
September 27th, 2011  
Wonderful capture and interesting facts to go with it :)!
September 27th, 2011  
Very impressive! Gorgeous bird!
September 27th, 2011  
Great capture and detail on this bird.
September 27th, 2011  
Great shot and explanation.
September 27th, 2011  
Cool shot,I've seen this before and did'nt realize what they were doing.
September 27th, 2011  
Love this shot and love birds of prey. All I've been able to do is get one in silhouette/flight. Fantastic!
September 27th, 2011  
Cool, never knew that about the birds!
September 27th, 2011  
That is one huge beautiful bird!
September 27th, 2011  
Wow, fantastic capture. That is so interesting about birds of prey.
September 27th, 2011  
Gorgeous!
September 27th, 2011  
incredible - stunning - wonderful...................
September 27th, 2011  
Gorgeous bird
September 27th, 2011  
amazing!!
September 27th, 2011  
Totally amazing!
September 27th, 2011  
Fantastic capture!!
September 27th, 2011  
wonderful shot, I learnt about this on a Hawk Walk this year, I flew a Harris hawk myself and it was great.
September 27th, 2011  
Very cool capture!
September 27th, 2011  
What a neat shot--and I never knew about "mantling."
September 27th, 2011  
beautiful bird,so majestic
September 28th, 2011  
This is such a great shot of a beautiful bird.
September 28th, 2011  
mag
This is like a Nat Geo shot....wonderful...and thanks for the educational mantling section...much appreciated...
September 28th, 2011  
wow!
September 28th, 2011  
fabulous shot, just so good.
September 28th, 2011  
Fantastic shot and interesting info about mantling. I have seen this before with our territorial red shoulder hawk but never knew what he was doing.
September 28th, 2011  
I thought that back end looked a little funny...this is a fantastic capture of nature at it's most dangerous.
September 29th, 2011  
Stunning. I love these shots.
September 29th, 2011  
very interesting!great shot!
September 29th, 2011  
Wonderful capture!
September 29th, 2011  
Harris Hawks are wonderful education birds! Very social pack hunters.
December 6th, 2011  
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