My name is Martin Tyner and this is Belle
This is our Harris Hawk
We've been asked a lot of questions about the Wildlife Ambassadors
That we use for our educational programs
And so we're today to visit a little bit
and answer some of your questions
Hatch date was March 22, 2018
License date when she basically came to us
Was August 8th, 2018
Her common name is Harris Hawk
and the Harris Hawk is a North American Bird
We find them here in the United States
In Southern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas
Though this little gal came out of a captive breeding program
out of Louisiana
And that's where she gets the name Belle from
because she's my little Southern Belle
The Scientific Name is Para Buteo
and what the Para Buteo is a
Buteo is a broad wing hawk
and para is kind like saying it is a broad wing hawk
but not really
and so your Buteos are Red Tail Hawks, Swainsons Hawks
Ferruginous Hawks, Rough Leg Hawks,
There's a lot of Buteos which is the broad wing hawk
And because the Harris Hawk has a broad rounded wing
But it has a very, very long tail
like an accipiter hawk
and she has longer legs
more like an accipiter hawk
she's much more beefy and much more powerful
than most accipiter hawks
so she's classified as a Para Buteo.
She is a group of one
The Harris Hawk is the only Para Buteo
Because they are so unique in their design
This little gal is about 42 or 43 ounces in weight
She's a very very large Harris Hawk
Thank you for keeping it on the plastic
I appreciate that
Wingspan - about three feet
They don't have a long wingspan
It's a relatively shorter, rounder, broad...
They are not a high speed soaring bird
They are basically more agile
They are a sprint kind of a bird
Diet...in the wild they eat a wide variety of
rodents, small reptiles and birds
here in captivity she gets kind of the same
She gets a lot of rats and mice
and she gets quail and she gets pigeon
and she gets rabbits
And so we try to duplicate their diet
as much as we possibly can in captivity
to help keep them healthy.
Activities - well the nice thing is she is one of my falconry birds
not just a wildlife ambassador
so the hunting season is from September through February
We go out on the desert and
this you see right here comes off
and she flies free
and she and I go wandering out through the brush in the desert
flushing rabbits for her to catch
and so she spends a great deal of time chasing rabbits
and in the off season
which is where we're at right now
she basically spends her time
hanging out with me
she likes to come in the house
in fact she sleeps in the house
in winter time it is too cold for the Harris Hawk
because they are a southern bird
so she has a perch
in an unfinished room down in my basement
she comes in and hangs out on the perch
in the evening times
she does like to just hang out
we throw a towel down and hang out in the living room
and we watch television together
she is kind of a member of the family
and then we travel throughout
the western United States doing
School Programs and Scout Programs
and Community Event Programs
and so she's a great wildlife ambassador
She's a wonderful, wonderful educator
Other than that, she's just kind fat and sassy right now
aren't ya?
Yes you are.
Temperament - the Harris Hawk in general
is one of the finest temperament birds in the world
They are one of the only birds of prey in the world
that hunts in packs like wolves
so they hunt in groups
so they are really good about cooperating
and working together as a team
and that makes them uniquely qualified
for falconry because they work
when raised and handled properly
they work with humans
you know she's the hunter,
I'm her dog
and so we develop a partnership
that's really quite rare in the animal world
that communal, cooperative, personality that they have
they are very stable disposition
this is not a high strung or nervous animal
like some of the other hawks and falcons can be
and so just an absolute joy...
also, their intelligence
extremely bright
they do remember everything
and so they learn how to capitalize
and how to use people
in assisting them in their abilities to hunt
and catch food for themselves
so really super smart
certainly smarter than most birds of prey
not all, but certainly smarter than most
Personality, like I said,
just gentle, sweet, wonderful to work with
you know, adaptable, just a great animal
Belle is really very typical of Harris Hawks that I've worked with
I really have never had a Harris Hawk
or worked with a Harris Hawk
that wasn't just a joy
to be able to handle and to work with
and Belle is exactly the same
but you know in saying that
if you don't raise them properly
because they are so incredibly intelligent
they can be a real nightmare
they can actually be quite dangerous
if you have one of these hawks
and you raise inappropriately
and you imprint them to humans
and they have no respect for humans
they can be dangerous
and if you do something to offend them
they will hurt you
but when they are handled appropriately
then are just an absolutely wonderful animal
to work with
I've had Harris Hawks that were quite dangerous
I've had another female very much like Belle here
that had been stolen from its nest
by some teenage boys
and imprinted and raised badly
and abused and all that kind of stuff
and she was quite dangerous
I had to be very carful
because she'd attack people in the field
in fact she was so emotionally disturbed
her favorite thing to hunt was cows
you know if there was a cow within a mile
she had to go beat up a cow
So they can be dangerous and hard to work with
if you don't have the skills
and expertise to handle them
and raise them properly
But when they are raised properly
like I said, there isn't a more gentle
and interesting animal on the planet
than a well handled Harris Hawk
for falconry and for education
Belle is like I said a dear member of the family
and she came to us out of a captive breeding program
out of Louisiana and so we
we contacted the breeder
and the breeder shipped her to us
and my sweet wife Susan and I
the closest airport that we could fly them into
was Salt Lake International
which is about a five hour drive from us here
and so we drove up to Salt Lake City
to the airport
and they got her off the plane
got her into the cargo area
and we picked her up
and it was all blocked off
so we really couldn't even see her
and so as soon as we got her home
I had all the equipment ready
to put on her
her anklets, the bells, the leather straps called jesses
the swivel, everything was ready to go
and we got her out of her box
we got her outfitted
with all of her equipment
and then we spent a great deal of time
sitting up here in the living room
with her on my glove
and just starting to get her used to her environment
and she was nervous because it was a new place
it didn't take her very long
just a few days
to get settled in
and started to accept me and the surroundings
and start to enjoy her life
and we have lots of videos on our youtube channel
of her first day with us
and the processes that we go through
in training her
and videos of her out flying free
and hunting rabbits
and so on our Youtube Channel
is a great place to go and learn
a lot of Belle, a lot about Harris Hawks and
a lot about falconry
Treats - you know food is more about a necessity
than a treat for her
I think her favorite food is jack rabbit
But to be honest with you
it doesn't really matter if
it's jack rabbit or mice or quail
or pigeon or cottontail
basically she enjoys eating
she like all of the normal food
and let me qualify this for everybody else
that you do need to understand
if you think you're going to be a falconer
you do have to understand that you can't
go to the local grocery store and get
dead rats in the frozen food section
and so you have to set up the ability to
provide food whether you order
frozen quail, rats and mice
from companies, like we use
a company called Rodent Pro
we order in thousands and thousands
of dollars worth of food every year
for the animals
or whether you breed your own
rats and mice
and raise your own quail
raise your own pigeons
but you do have to develop a food source
when you're working with these animals
you can not feed them meat
meat is not good for them
you have to feed them whole animals
as far as activities,
her very favorite thing in the world
to do is to go hunting
and so that's her biggest motivation
I mean she does do really well when we travel
and do our shows
she does very well when visiting people
privately here at my home
and hanging around and
going for walks and those kinds of things
but she knows, her personality starts to change
she knows that when we start to bring her weight
down a little bit
so she becomes a little bit hungry
then her keenness picks up and her personality
gets sharper and she is starting to act like an apex predator
and when we go out in the field
she knows that we're going
it's different and she knows that it's different
you know I put her in the hawk box
the transport box
she knows if we're going to go do a show
verses whether we're going to go hunting
How she knows, I'm not sure
whether she reads my body language
or what it is, but she knows
and she wants to get into that box
and she wants to get out the field
and she wants to go out and hunt
and chase rabbits
that's the funnest thing
that she likes to do
Life expectancy in the wild is about
7 to 10 years for a Harris Hawk like this
in captivity we can double that
15 to 20 years would be considered normal
My last Harris Hawk was named Thumper
He was a male
and he lived 29 years
before he passed away
and about the last ten years
he'd certainly slowed down a bunch
he really didn't hunt very much
but he liked to go out to the field
and fly free
and he would chase lizards
and he did like his personal time
and so Belle right here
she should be around
for close to thirty years
as a friend and as a companion
and as a wildlife ambassador