My good friend Sam Rice took up this small, dark falcon 4 seasons ago, and from the start it was a mach well made.  Sam’s skill and Shadows naturally rapacious nature were a winning combination, in a short time she was learning the disciplines of a game hawk and started to make her mark on the falconry community.

Her first season was very successful with a good number of head to her name, including Mallard and Pheasant.  Each season thereafter has seen her develop in to the outstanding game hawk she is today, in the air she is powerful and determined, looking like a large Teircel with her busy clipping flight.

The 2003/4 season has been her most successful so far, her patient waiting on at tremendous pitches to be served, no matter what amount of distracting check flew temptingly beneath her.  Then her pumping vertical stoops on the flush of quarry, driving at full speed towards her goal.  Watching this, the outcome always seemed inevitable.

The future is bright for this falcon, I hope I am able to keep witnessing her masterful flight in years to come. 

Shadow is a tribute to Sam’s prowess as a falconer and her outstanding performance is a credit to him and nature, for perfecting the Peregrine as one of the top aerial predators.