The New Zealand Falcon is the only bird of prey endemic to New Zealand. It is a threatened species, with only about 3,000 breeding pairs surviving. Efforts are underway to rehabilitate injured birds and to train birds hatched in captivity to hunt on their own using falconry methods. We visited the Wingspan National Bird of Prey Centre and saw a demonstration of a New Zealand Falcon being trained in this way.
This bird was being trained to catch a leather lure containing a bit of meat while it was swung overhead by the trainer. The birds are amazingly fast (and difficult to capture with a telephoto lens). These five photos are the best I got after snapping more than a hundred shots.
David
SO pleased you got to Wingspan! It was one of my favorite sites (out of many) in the Rotorua area. I have a photo of one of the falcons perched on my head!