The Harris’s hawk, formerly known as the bay-winged hawk, dusky hawk, and sometimes a wolf hawk, and known in Latin America as peuco, is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south to Chile, central Argentina, and Brazil.
quote from Wikipedia
Meet Edward Harris, aka Eddy
Eddy is a captive bred Harris’s Hawk. Collin acquired him in 2021. He had just hatched that March and was ready to go to his own place. So we made the trip and drove down to the breeder who was located in Turtletown, TN right near the border of NC. This was of course an overnight trip, so we drove the 8 hours down, spent a night in a older looking hotel that gave Collin the creeps but was still pretty clean at the same time, picked Eddy up the next day and headed home. The breeders were a very sweet older couple and the wife did amazing paintings! They caught up a bird out of the fledglings pen, brought him to their house and we put his equipment on him at the kitchen table and then put him in his travel box. And then Collin and I headed back home. I got to see and drive over the New River Gorge Bridge for the first time! Also we stopped at a place called the “Davy Crockett Travel Center”. I also saw my first Cicadas while we were there! There were so many in the trees, that at first I thought they had some kind of machinery going somewhere nearby! It was kinda neat!
Collin Named Eddy after Edward Harris
John James Audubon named what was previously known as the “bay-winged hawk”, the Harris’s Hawk, after his good friend and supporter Edward Harris. So Collin named Eddy after the guy they named the birds after! The Harris’s Hawk is only a newly discovered Falconry wonder. They started being used in Falconry in 1980 and have grown in popularity since then and are one of the most common Falconry birds that is now found all over the world and is known as the most popular Falconry bird in the UK! They are very adaptable and it’s so cool to see Falconer’s hunting these guys in groups!
Collin ate breakfast outside while holding Eddy that first morning
So parent raised captive bred birds are just as flighty as wild caught birds when you first get them. When they’ve been raised without human contact, they are naturally afraid of you and are wondering “what the heck!” As you can see in the above pictures the “what the heck” look Eddy is giving Collin and also his “bat imitation” when he tried to bate off the glove but failed to understand how to get back to sit on the glove. I managed to snap a quick picture to show his amazing juvenile plumage before Collin “rescued” him and set him upright on the glove again. Most birds of prey have different looking plumage coloring/pattern than they do as an adult. I think Owls are different, but I know this is true for the majority of the other raptors.
Eddy is smaller than most people would think, and some ask if he will be any bigger when he’s older. Birds are actually full grown by the time they can fly, so Eddy was full grown by 10-12 weeks of age. He did fill out a little more since we got him, but that’s because he’s fit from training and from doing falconry.
Collin is still working with Eddy in the hunting aspect in Falconry. Eddy rocks the Education aspect, but is still learning how to hunt. Collin has recently found new locations to take Eddy rabbit hunting so is very excited about that as we don’t have rabbits here where we live, so it’s hard to hunt Eddy with a lack of game. But he’s able and willing, and Collin was actually out this weekend with a new Falconry buddy and they took Eddy hunting!
