https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/home daily 1.0 2024-12-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/fe0862e8-ce9a-4101-a33f-3771680c066a/Pelham+Library.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/197faf5f-15ae-44eb-a02f-97fc497cdf46/Felix+and+Aengus.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/096f7552-40f4-44c8-b5de-f82f165a2ad4/Dana+M.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/e7be393a-2041-4ccf-bafe-3c3a3dae2177/Meeting+Mahood.jpeg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/3c2c7c7f-07c0-4d3f-9e13-2b52b2ee4d3a/IMG_6255.jpg.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/0549f379-27f5-4566-a220-7c3c81348014/Donna+W.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/892ce001-a4e0-4e5e-8810-11ab9e96f2de/IMG_8394+%281%29.jpeg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/a36e144c-a3a9-43cf-a2b9-4b0b95bfed3b/Elizabeth+Soukup_Mahood.jpeg https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/the-people daily 0.75 2026-01-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/6903307c-bb3e-4f8b-9964-d8b955a75529/IMG_6738.JPG The People - Henry Walters took a bookish route to falconry. An undergraduate Latin course led him to Frederick the Great’s 13th-century treatise, De arte venandi cum avibus, or Concerning the Art of Hunting with Birds. Here, for the first time in history, a person was taking the lives of birds—their habits, their eccentricities, even their personalities—seriously! After graduating, a traveling fellowship brought him to Ireland’s School of Falconry, where he apprenticed with some of the finest falconers in Europe, flying raptors such as the peregrine falcon, sparrowhawk, Eurasian eagle-owl, ferruginous hawk, and northern goshawk. Working in Ireland, Henry fell in love with a pursuit that could spark the imagination of people from such different places and walks of life. On returning to the United States, he earned his falconry license in Massachusetts before moving north, where he worked as a seasonal raptor biologist for New Hampshire Audubon and co-founded the New Hampshire Young Birders Club. As a teacher, naturalist, and writer, Henry has found ways to make environmental education a creative endeavor. Now a Master Falconer in New Hampshire, he lives in the town of Hancock with his young family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/dfd94d02-5f17-4395-837d-cae82ca183bb/Marty.jpg The People Martin Connolly (1943-2025) was the maker of his own unique relationship with the natural world. As a boy in the Bronx, he nursed an injured kestrel in his own bedroom and was hooked on birds for life. On moving to New Hampshire, Marty and his wife Lynda built their house in Temple with their own hands and raised three boys on a working dairy farm. As a Master Falconer and raptor rehabilitator, Marty and his red-tailed hawk, “The General,” made quite an impression on more traditional pheasant hunters around New England. Whether chasing snowshoe hares with a pack of Bassett hounds (the hares always came out on top) or holding listeners rapt with stories of improbable wildlife encounters, Marty encouraged countless people, young and old, to get out and explore the woods by any means necessary. His energy, insight, and sense of humor were second-to-none and are sorely missed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/7ca7aa79-f1ca-4c6e-a2ef-8d17869272cf/Kat.jpg The People Katrina Rosa was born and raised in the woodlands of the Monadnock region by Deaf parents, alongside a menagerie of animal friends. Noticing and connecting with the natural world has simply been a way of life in rural communities where animals far outnumber humans. Her insight into the well-being of the birds in her care has deep roots in her own primary language, American Sign Language, in which communication is both visual and embodied. This early affinity has led to a lifelong adventure in the fields of farming, veterinary medicine, and rescue of both domestic and wild animals. As an apprentice rehabilitator and falconer, Katrina is an unmatched ambassador between people and the avian world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/8a8bd263-4110-4ca0-9920-b18607d2cbfd/20241019_142627-2.jpg The People Sussie Holzberlein is an avid volunteer in support of worthy causes and an amateur photographer. Her full-time job is as a Christian Science Practitioner. She came to Monadnock Falconry for a Hawk Walk in September of 2024 and, seeing the magnitude of the work that was being done with and for the birds, wanted to contribute in whatever support role was possible. She began weekly volunteer work later that same month. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/7cae3647-e326-499a-82c2-efafe31d6b31/Farm.jpg The People The Grouse Woods at Red Gate Farm, the home of Monadnock Falconry, offers the very best of New England natural history, culture, and landscape. Located on the eastern slope of Pack Monadnock, beech and hemlock stands weave in and out of meadows bordered by birch and alder, as well as old pastures and wetlands that have been cared for by the Connolly family for decades. Conceived as a hunting preserve and maintained for a variety of habitats, The Grouse Woods is home to a diverse array of wildlife, including black bear, bobcat, coyote, and over 100 species of birds in the course of a year. Whether you come when the trillium is blooming in spring or when the leaves explode in color each fall, a walk on this land will make you fall in love with all New Hampshire has to offer. Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm, adjacent to The Grouse Woods, is a hotbed of activity and a destination in its own right. Baked goods, eggs, meats, raw cow’s milk, maple syrup, and the area’s best ice cream—made on site—are just some of what the farm store has for sale. Even as many dairy farms have disappeared from the Northeast, the Connollys’ beautiful Jersey cows are a testament to an unbroken tradition that links this family to the land. https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/what-we-offer daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/3c2c7c7f-07c0-4d3f-9e13-2b52b2ee4d3a/IMG_6255.jpg.jpg What We Offer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/096f7552-40f4-44c8-b5de-f82f165a2ad4/Dana+M.jpg What We Offer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/0549f379-27f5-4566-a220-7c3c81348014/Donna+W.jpg What We Offer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/e7be393a-2041-4ccf-bafe-3c3a3dae2177/Meeting+Mahood.jpeg What We Offer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/197faf5f-15ae-44eb-a02f-97fc497cdf46/Felix+and+Aengus.jpg What We Offer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/fe0862e8-ce9a-4101-a33f-3771680c066a/Pelham+Library.jpg What We Offer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/d592bb03-4954-4c7e-a923-4beffaf00905/_I6A1230+copy.jpg What We Offer - A Walk on the Wilder Side Monadnock Falconry offers you the opportunity to take a walk with a Harris’ Hawk and a Master Falconer. In a 60- or 90-minute session, you will spend time in the field with a hunting raptor and watch him fly in to your own fist! Get answers to the questions you’ve always wanted to ask: What makes a bird of prey tick? What ticks him off? What use can he have for a human being trudging along underneath him? Learn about this fascinating family of predators and about the falconers who have worked closely with them through the ages. https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-11-29 https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/the-birds daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/7d8a6e25-86ca-4f34-a3ee-02a3b8fd19dd/_I6A1411+copy.jpg The Birds Mahood is a five-year-old male Harris’ Hawk. An accomplished hunter of voles, chipmunks, rabbits, and pheasants, he flies with reckless abandon and more than a little self-confident swagger. Weighing in at only a pound and a half, he will occasionally harass larger red-tailed hawks hunting on his turf, but behind his bravado is a keen intelligence. The Harris’ is unique among North American raptors in being a social species, and Mahood is no exception; he has adopted hundreds of human visitors into his hunting “pack,” stooping to perch on the gauntlets of people of all ages, from three to ninety-three. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/0c73e48e-35f1-4afa-add6-68fa3e827086/IMG_8030.jpg.jpg The Birds Gira is a piece of the high arctic living among us. The gyrfalcon, largest species of falcon in the world, is often as white as the landscape over which she hunts. With scythe-like wings capable of pursuing quarry over long distances, this bird has the hunting advantage over prey even as large as snow geese or arctic hares. Until recently, eight-year-old Gira was working as an “abatement falcon,” flying over airstrips, transfer stations, and orchards to clear away unwanted crows, starlings, and pigeons. Born in captivity, she is not a candidate for release to the wild, but she has years of good flying ahead of her. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/5faa0e87-8b4d-4fdd-afd4-ae1bdb9b9d82/Pitch.jpg The Birds Pitch is an adult female Red-tailed Hawk, one of the largest members of the Buteo family of hawks here in New England. The red-tail is the bird of choice for many falconers, being extremely hardy in our climate and capable of taking a wide range of prey. Sidelined by a mysterious sinus infection, Pitch is beginning to regain strength and hunting form. A recent ten-day stint on her own in the woods and fields of Temple showed that she was capable of fending for herself for a short time, which gives us hope that a return to the wild may ultimately be possible. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/22afd0cf-07f0-4146-8119-dba8a0729883/Aengus+amused_small.jpg The Birds Aengus is a four-year-old male Harris’ Hawk, younger brother to Mahood, but with habits, postures, and a personality all his own. In hunting mode he is strictly business, wings always half-open in anticipation of movement. But afterwards, no bird so enjoys the rituals of bathing: the slow soak of feet in a shallow stream or pool, followed by a lively diving routine and some stylish moves straight out of Dancing with the Stars. While taking a bath in a half-frozen pond last winter, he became perhaps the first Harris’ Hawk to ever catch and eat a fish! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/6e59923a-bd1c-4935-9e9f-f865cd2b1fa3/Louhi+-+pheasant2+.JPG The Birds Louhi is a young female Harris’ Hawk with two years’ hunting under her belt. Like other birds of prey, females are larger and stronger than the males of their species, and Louhi is no exception. Cock pheasants, gray squirrels, and even ducks are possible prey for these sizeable talons, although she is not always sure how to go about catching them. Crash landings, midair misses, and confused looks are all a part of a juvenile hawk’s education! As she develops, she will become the leader of our Harris’ Hawk pack, showing the boys with her strength and speed just how it’s done. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6267fb0a1924f556e078f9ff/03b9a152-bc8c-4616-a7b7-3ca6806d6a20/IMG_6783.JPG The Birds Pete is a sixteen-year-old Great Horned Owl, one of the world’s largest and most powerful owl species. Beautifully camouflaged, he is at home in the New Hampshire woods but nearly impossible to see unless found by crows or hawks angrily pointing out his whereabouts. Raised with humans from the time he was young, Pete shows signs of imprinting that likely mean he cannot return fully to the wild. Still, one look at his enormous, feathered talons and critical stare will make one thing clear: there’s nothing tame about him! https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/faq daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://www.monadnockfalconry.com/store daily 0.75 58141-03-20