Here is my thread for commentary if anyone is so disposed.

It was fun to shoot and was a bit of a pain in the editing suite, particularly the compression issues with quicktime.

Everyday out with the falcons is an adventure as you never know what is going to happen, and it is always packed full of action!!

That of course makes the filming particularly challenging, an adventure in itself.

Hope you enjoy.

cool concept...falcons are a treat!

more close-ups of these magnificent birds would have strengthened this...is this your normal camera, dale? seems a little short on the telephoto compared to what i've seen from you before...

great soundtrack! is this original music? i loved it, it fit the subject and the barren, minimalist sense of place well.

Trackin' those birds looks pretty tricky....they move fast!

Very, very interesting....

I also would have like to see more close ups of the birds....on your arm, in the truck...
I'd be very interested in seeing how you care for them and call them back...

Dale,

Very cool to see a falconry film.

I used to be licensed years ago. That first time they fly to your fist is an experience words can't describe.

Tracking them as they go into a stoop is a tough job for sure.

Couldn't have asked for any better music that.

That sure was enjoyable and brought back a lot of memories.

I liked the slow motion shots of the falconer walking through the snow with his breath steaming from him.

Nice hit on the pheasant as you were panning towards the sun.

Dale, liked your film. Filming those birds is not an easy task! I would, like others have mention, liked to view some nice close-ups of those birds, when they was sitting at the falconer.
Overall a nice and good piece from you Dale.

Yes more close up's here too please ;-)
The action you captured was superb - the strikes were amazing. Are these harris hawks? Beautiful birds + fantastic scenery......

I feel I don’t need to say more, close-ups…
You made a nice film, I liked the concept.

Markus

Hi Dale

Her you make a realy greit enter,from my taste this is on
of the best film this round.Fantastic to see the falcon working.

Many nice clip!!!


Greait-work!!!!


VJV.



_________________________

Thank you all for the comments.

The Camera was my gl2, not my xl2.

I could not tell the whole Falconry story in 3 minutes, so I opted to make it a straight action video. Of course you can't use older footage which ruled out perhaps 150 hours of other video I have on hand.

the Music is an improvisation of "riders in the sky" played by a friend of mine whom I inspired when he was a 13 year old lad, so for me to use his music has more meaning to it.

Filming Falcons that stoop 100 to 280 miles an hour is more than difficult.

This falcon was often 1000 feet up. You can not zoom in close when they are up there because when they go into a stoop you can not keep up with them. You can not use auto focus ever, and often your lighting changes in one stoop. You will note that most of the time I try to keep the falcon high in the frame until the stoop starts, that way you can stay with the falcon, otherwise it is gone out of the frame and you will never catch up!!

The falcon is a domestic bred falcon and is a specticle to see fly.
The only other bird is the wild Male golden eagle that comes in to try and get a free meal.

Kevin, I have been a falconer for 46 years and have spent my life studying raptors of all kinds. While I love all wildlife, the raptors are in my very soul.

I am glad some of you enjoyed it, that is the whole point of sharing it.

Dale, you always deliver spectacular bird footage, and this was no excemption.
I use the same camera (XM2), so I know what people mean when asking for more close ups. Sometimes the built in 20x just isn't enough.
But still, I enjoyed every single second of your film.
Those falcons are fantastic birds.
Sometimes, I had trouble keeping the dog in the frame for my film, so I believe keeping up with the falcon must have been even more difficult.

Keep up the good work, and thank you for sharing.
The music was a perfect choice.

Hi Dale:

Way to go on this one! What magnificent birds! Like Markus' film, I can't imagine the scale of difficulty filming it. Beautiful scenery, awesome music, wonderful subject. It's all here Dale! Nice job! Oh yea, and the close ups... how cool would that be too! We like to ask for everything here in UWOL land!

Cat

Hi Dale,

Given my falconry background whilst living in Scotland, this was an absolute surprise and delight to say the least!

To actually get the strike you got (the backlight shot) was absolutely amazing, given the speeds at which these birds are moving. I just loved watching your footage - which brought back so many memories.

The peregrine (although I thought it was a Saker with that reddish tinge on the head) is such an impressive bird to look at, so I understand others comments about the close ups - you know the ones where the screen is filled with only the head of the bird, the cut to the talons and jesses, tying the hood on with your teeth, etc. Regardless, I still loved watching the action take place.

I think you should use a tripod as often as you can and also watch your horizons in some of the shots.

Thanks for sharing such wonderful scenes with us Dale (I would love to see all that other footage you have).

One thing I enjoy about most of vour video's are the miles of open spaces.After watching your video I went back to mine and i notice how confinded it looks even though I am shooting in open spaces...Nice action adventure Dale...

Hi Dale.
"Ghost riders of the sky", great choice of music to this exciting and action filled falconer adventure.
One thing that amaze me more and more is the different approaches to the uwol themes. You can not put everything into 3 min, but maybe I miss some explonation about being a falconer.
I think it's forbidden to train and keep falcons captured in Norway, but I mean no offend though :)

Loved you film and thank you for sharing.

All the best
Geir Inge

Geir,

Norway has a history of being a supplier of raptors in the 1500 to 1800's. Falconry did not take place there for a number of reasons, but it was a great place to set up trapping stations and such which allowed locals to capitalize on some of the native wildlife in that era.

Falconry practiced properly is perhaps the greatest hunting sport with the least impact on the wildlife, both falcons and falconer benifit, hence the symbiotic relationship. Every flight is like a piece of art, always exciting, unique in its own individual way and highly dramatic. I have never known an outdoors person that has seen it done properly that was not emotionally moved. That is what I was trying to portray. I probably failed in a couple regards, as video is good but it isn't like being there!!! Gives me motivation to keep working at it!!!

I tried to portray the non stop action and the specticle of watching a predator do what is natural.

I am in no way offended!!!

Vikings were known for trained raptors too, shame to have lost that heritage!!!

Nice job Dale. Filming birds in flight fascinates me, as does keeping them framed and in focus. Couldn't plan an attempt if I tried. Only footage I get is lucky footage. Nice work

This was fascinating to watch. I was amazed how you followed the birds going so far at such high speed and got their strikes on film. It was exciting to see the birds in action, and I also enjoyed seeing the cutaways, giving a sense of place. The music was perfect, and enhanced the feeling of the piece. If you have the time, put together some highlights from your 150 hours- you could post it to the UWOL forum here- I would love to see more. Thanks for sharing your adventures!


Ruth

Dale this one was exciting to watch. They look like they are jousting in the air. Is the outcome pretty predictable, do the falcons always get their target?

I agree more CU's would have been nice, but you would have to have some kind of crazy tracking system in place to get them stooping at a very high focal length.

Dale
You picked a interesting but challenging subject to video here. Smoothly following birds, especially falcons, in flight is a tough one. As mentiones it would've been nice to have some tighter shots but I know that's really hard to do. I enjoyed this one.

Gordon

This is a very interesting adventure and a very difficult and challenging subject. I liked your intro and music.

I can, however, echo some of the sentiments here. I feel that there are almost too many scenes of the falcon flying in the distance - could have been varied with more close-ups because it is such a stunning bird. Even an abbreviated version of your falconry story would have rounded off this movie nicely.

To me, Peregines are the most fascinating of all raptors. I find it absolutely amazing that their hearts start to pump backwards during their stoop and that their nostrils have specially designed bones in them to deflect the wind so they don’t suffocate themselves when diving at such high speeds.


Filming Falcons that stoop 100 to 280 miles an hour is more than difficult.


Small wonder it’s difficult to film the dive. Your capturing a hit is even pretty amazing - very nice to watch and well done Dale.

Dale, what an ending! Watching the falcon pluck that bird. Sent chills up my spine. I can imagine how hard it was to track her in flight. The speed must be tremendous to do that type of impact kill. Now tell me, was that "Ghost Riders in the Night"? Bob

I'm late in catching up with these films partly because of being away most of February, and then because of trying to catch up with work, etc. So I've only just watched this. Great stuff!!

Was it a peregrine? I thought so at first, then later it looked like a longer-winged bird, and the close-up showed something that looked more like a lanner. I've filmed a lanner (with my old XM2) flying to falconer's lure - it certainly takes practice! And the bird wasn't that far away from me - no trying to find a dot in the sky! I'm hoping on my next trip to Scotland to film a falconer's peregrine working. Not hunting as in your film, but frightening gulls off a rubbish tip - a health issue as gulls can pick up diseases and spread them (to both gulls and humans).

I guess my criticisms of the film would be that the eagle didn't need to be there - my thoughts were was he another falconer's bird hunting, or was he being hunted - he wasn't really part of the story. And as a couple of others have said - more of the falconer with the birds.

I was doing stills of a falconer's birds in Scotland last week - it wasn't practical to use the video too, though I had hoped to. My favourite picture of the sessions, much to my surprise, was this one of the falconer explaining to his snowy owl what was required! And the bird performed - pity the dates were wrong for me to do UWOL 7 on this trip.

Annie,

The Eagle came in on the falcon to try and get a free meal.

the eagle did not have to be there for ceratin, but I was portraying the adventure as it happened and there wasn't enough time to get everything in. I could have voiced over i suppose. legitimate critique!

After reading everyones kind words, I may remake it, take out some of the flying footage, the eagle and move in some closeups and such.

The falcon is actualy a cross bred, the red in it comes from it Barbary falcon mother.

Wow! That was something. That falcon had to be hard to follow with your camera. I would say that you definitely had an adventure with this film. I enjoyed it a lot thanks for making it.

Dale,
What amazing footage you have there! I have never seen this sort of stuff before & thoroughly enjoyed it. I would have liked to see a bit more of the falconer himself, with maybe a V.O. of what was happening. I hope we can all see more of this sort of stuff from you.

Bryce