Alberta has one of the longest falconry seasons on the continent with almost 7 months of hawking from August 15th through March 31st. This being said few of us continue on to take fun advantage of the 7 month season and winter is where it really becomes challenging, not only because the game is fitter, smarter and tougher than early season but the added dynamic of the weather. The past week we had an unusual cold snap and particularly sudden, given that we had been spoilt with a mild winter up until now. When temperatures plummet down to 47c I stopped flying. In fact in recent years I tend not to go out below 25c.

However today was the first "warm" spell in almost a week and it was good to get out and yet funny that Albertans see 12c as a nice day. The young gyr peregrine tiercel performed very well given he had a week off from flying and he caught his 7th hun (2nd in succession), of his short first season. He was started very late and I had my work cut out for me. My objective is to set the foundations for next year and his first full season. We're almost there.