I listened to Helen Macdonald read her book, H Is For Hawk, to me on CD's over the past week. Helen is a falconer. Even though her hawk is a goshawk, she is still considered a falconers because falconers hunt with birds of prey. Helen trained Mabel, a goshawk, how to hunt for rabbits and pheasants. Training a goshawk is no easy task as goshawks are temperamental and aloof. The story of the relationship between Helen and Mabel is fascinating. Being a falconer takes up huge amounts of time and energy and expense. Building trust with a hawk is time consuming and it takes a vast amount of problem solving to get it done. I admire falconers but I know I do not have the commitment it would take. This was a very interesting and informative book.
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