I love the thrill of hawk trapping but it is not all action, in fact the reality can be hours of cramped sitting for hours on end with not a ‘pip squeak’ in sight.

One such day in the mountains we were both, Bruce and I whiling away the time eating the supplies we had brought when I noticed a miniature familiar shape.

Way down the mountain sitting on an outcrop sure enough was a Golden Eagle. Training my binoculars on her I watched as she sunned herself, some time later she was airborne and pumping high into the sky at a tremendous speed. I heard the shrill yelping call of her young eaglet as it followed her, we were to witness a fabulous aerial display which was probably a pilot lesson for the eaglet.

As we lost sight of the two eagles this male sharpshin hawk slammed into our net and was caught. Sharpshin’s are the American version of our European Sparrow Hawk but a little smaller.