Falconry birds aren’t pets, they’re partners.

In this short film, Shawn Hayes describes his relationship with birds and how he became a falconer. His co-star in the film is an immature prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus) that he’s working with to orchestrate the perfect flight.

About the bird’s future he says:

The day that I release my bird back out to the wild I know that bird is going to survive. I know that bird is going to go out and probably get a mate and produce other birds in the wild. And I was part of that.

Shawn Hayes, “How One City Man Found His Calling in the Wild”

“Falconry is not a sport, it’s not an art — it’s a way of life.”

(video by Joshua Izenberg on the National Geographic YouTube channel)