How to choose your First Bird of Prey

Thank you for mentioning the outcome of all the "beginner" Harris hawks! Great birds with such potential but unfortunately it's rarely reached.

In Oklahoma (central u.s.), we have 2 options for a starter bird. Red tailed hawk and American kestrel. It also depends on your sponsor, some of them only give you one option if you want to do falconry.

My first bird was a golden eagle. He is now a gentle and smart bird, not aggressiv and a good hunter. BUT i say all my students that is a very bad idea, because these birds a very sensitive and can be very very dangerous. I am so happy that you say the harris hawk is NOT a beginner bird. I have two harrsi and they are so different, the one is a high aggressiv bird, the other is a softie. Harris hawks are so intelligent, so you can make so many mistakes with these great birds. In germany is the goshawk a traditional beginner bird, or the peregrine falcon. Thanks for these good video!

The quality of this video is superb! Thank you very much!

I am so glad that this video exists, it really points me in the right direction and helps me understand the kind of bird of prey to choose, thanks dan!

Delighted to see the new Common Buzzard you got! Could easily become my favourite out of all your birds - I’m so weak for buzzards it’s unreal 😅 I am getting a Buzzard as a first bird very soon. I know they’re not as efficient as some other birds for hunting but after volunteering at falconry places I just love their personalities. A few bunnies a year will be enough to make me happy. Anyway though, I’ve been watching for a fair while though even if I haven’t commented much and I love your stuff, thanks for it and keep it up! You explain complex concepts in a really easy to understand way which I adore.

as a falconer that has 20+ years experiance im glad ur shining alot of light within our community/lifestyle as iv heard of ALOT of birds have been killed/lost or hurt due to no experiance or knowledge of what they wanna do ... the more people know the better ... alot of people dont notice the amount of patients, time and effort that go in to just keeping these birds healthy

My first bird that was given to me is a changeable hawk eagle! Thank you so much for this video!

Thank you very much. Always very clear and instructive. I have learned a lot with your videos. Congrats for your work and dedication.

Another great video from mercer falconry, interesting and informative as usual. Hope you keep them coming

Just looking into all this. What a great source of info. Thx

Appreciation for the video; I’m interested in watching more of your videos as I prepare for my journey. I don’t have a bird yet

Excellent video and very informative, thanks 🙏🏻

Thanks this really helped me a lot!!!

Great stuff Dan. 👏👍👌

Thanks for the draft scenarios 😮.

Great video, thank you

I’m new. To falconry I will most likely get a Harris hawk first I love them such a fab bird

Brilliant advice

Hi Dan hope your well, this is really made my day my favourite species is the harris hawk followed closely by the barn owl then the peregrine falcon