THE HAWK. MESSENGER OF THE GODS.

Hawk

Last year when I just got my new camera I went on a photo adventure with a friend of mine. And although I love to capture everything in the wild, I don't have a 150 - 600mm telephoto lens yet. So we had to settle with a trip to Safaripark Beekse Bergen. And although we both do not like bird of prey shows, we took the opportunity to take a good picture of the various birds. We are both great nature lovers and are therefore of the opinion that these birds of prey should live in the wild, and not in cages. They shouldn't be a subject of entertainment, and make their obligatory flights on a small piece every day for the entertainment of the public.

I do know that most people who keep birds of prey and train for shows will be very good for the animals. But it makes no difference to me personally. A bird of prey is normally only beautiful to me if it lives in freedom in the great outdoors. And sometimes you are not happy when you see them like what we had a while ago with a Sparrowhawk female who has cleaned up a large part of the Great Tits that live with us. Unfortunately, that too is nature… and on the other hand it was also very nice to be able to admire that Sparrowhawk female so closely.

But to go back to the Beekse Berger, and the birds of prey show we saw there. A bird on the show that caught my attention by its keen eye was the Hawk. One of the 14 common bird of prey species in my country.

FACTS ABOUT THE HAWK.

The Hawk belongs to the Sparrowhawk / Hawk-like species of which 45 species exist worldwide. The Hawk is also the largest hunter in this family.
A Hawk can live to be 19 years old, but on average they do not live older than 4.5 to 5 years. However, this concerns Hawks that live in the wild. In captivity, the Hawks get much older. Which of course also makes sense because they are much less at risk.

The male Hawk has an average wingspan of 1 meter. The female Hawk has an average wingspan of 1.15m. As with almost all birds of prey, the female is therefore larger than the male.

Hawks are very shy. This may have to do with its history. For years, the Hawk has probably been the most persecuted bird of prey in Europe. This allowed the bird to survive only in very sparsely populated areas.

A pair of Hawks live in the same territory for years.
The Hawk plucks its prey before it eats it

THE HAWK AS TOTEM ANIMAL

The Hawk is assigned the following properties.

• Messenger
• Intuition
• Victory
• Healing
• Noble
• Reminder
• Cleaning
• Visionary power
• Leadership

The hawk stands for protection, life force, visions, life energy, balance and balance, passion and listening. The hawk is seen as the messenger of the Gods. The elements that suit the hawk are fire and air.

And when you consider all this, you immediately understand why I am not an advocate of bird of prey shows. The birds that participate in these shows and have to show up for us human education and entertainment are out of place in captivity. A few facts in a row that indicate why I am actually an opponent of most of these shows.

• In captivity, the birds cannot display their natural behavior.
• They hardly get the chance to fly.
• They are not allowed to hunt (and eat) their own prey.
• They do not have the freedom to choose a partner, build a nest and raise youngsters.
• Most of the time they are in a cage that is too small or they are attached to a block with a short rope.
• Making their own choices has been taken away from them.
• During the shows they have to do tricks in an unnatural environment in the middle of a crowd that can touch and stroke the birds.
• Owls are also true nocturnal animals, but are exposed for hours in daylight.

Then these shows are often 'sold' under the guise of information. But research has shown that in most shows little information is provided. Sometimes even literal false information is given, and in the shows it is mainly the intention that one sees the bird up close, which is contrary to the behavior of these birds in the wild. As a result of which the public is taught something wrong again. In addition, stroking and photographing the birds is and remains a very popular activity. Which means that again little is taught to the public, because in free nature this bird of free choice will stay as far away from humans as possible, will certainly not let itself be stroked ... let alone take a picture with a person.

Why did I take these photos after all? If I am such an opponent of these shows, is it not hypocritical to still take pictures? Yes in fact it is! But I am also a human being and I also really wanted to photograph a bird of prey like the hawk. The photographer in me won this time. So yes, for once I put my principles overboard and took the chance to take the pictures, also knowing that at least the birds are respected in this show. Good information is also provided and no one is allowed to pet the birds or take a picture with the birds. And these photos are all taken from a distance with the telephoto lens that I have available. Nobody was allowed to get close to the birds, which I think is a very good approach. In this way, the nature of the birds was also taken into account.

Hopefully a good telephoto lens in a while, and beautiful photos of birds of prey in the wild ... because that is my ultimate dream when it comes to photos of birds of prey.