Reclaiming an aggressive 12 year old GXP

A long time falconer friend of over 40 years came across an older falcon in need of a home, I collected her a week later. She's massive, largest falcon I've had, moults at 1585 grams, flies at 1400. Hadn't been handled in a long time, as a result she's rude to say the least. Aggression coupled with her size and strength has made reclaiming her quite a challenge, I've had to revert to wearing an eagle glove to protect my forearm from her initial bites, the girl takes out chunks!

This short clip is how she and I began our journey, trust, as always, is a major issue, we've gotten past that hurdle to some extent although it's taken over three months of daily handling, manning, and keeping her on a round perch in my office at night, I'm around her and she with me all the time. As nasty as she was early on, she showed signs of a good bird just waiting to come out.

Soft hands, a kind voice, patience, and desensitizing has been crucial in her development. We are now in the field, thus far she's been trustworthy, big and strong on the wing. I'll edit a video clip of our early field flights if anyone is interested? She's flying free now, but I wanted to share how it all began before getting into the fun stuff.

Her name is "Shadow" however I've called her a few others! A falconer friend refers to her as "Godzilla." She's a Gyrfalcon x Peale's Peregrine, just now 12 years of age. An awesome bird, still a bit bitchy first thing in the morning, still prone to bite now and then but she's half Peale's so to be expected! If she progresses no further, I'm good with it, I've had worse.

Hope you enjoy this brief introduction, I'm looking forward to sharing more video as our relationship and training continues, can't wait for next duck season!