Royal Canadian Falconry

On October 3, 2026, I photographed five raptors at Royal Canadian Falconry in the Haliburton Highlands. These sixteen highlights move from close portraits to flight and the moments between birds and handlers: Voodoo’s tilted head, Kara’s watchful profile, Laima’s delicate facial markings, Nomad’s red-tasselled hood, and Hera coming straight toward the camera. The names and species supplied by the falconer give each encounter its own identity.

Royal Canadian Falconry is a family-owned centre rooted in falconry: hunting in partnership with a trained bird of prey. Alongside visitor experiences and education, the team uses those skills for bird control across Southern Ontario. The portraits here belong to that wider working life, where each bird’s natural abilities and individual temperament matter.

The gloves, hoods, jesses, and lure visible in these photographs are part of that practice. RCF’s code of ethics emphasizes gradual familiarization, routine, and positive reinforcement, with care shaped around the birds’ wild nature. Its workshops introduce visitors to individual raptors and their natural history, alongside flights to the glove and lure demonstrations. That context adds another way to read the photographs: beyond the feather detail and autumn colour, there is the daily work of understanding and caring for each bird.