Brad Townsend’s Falcon Killed by Eagle. As you may have heard or witnessed, tragedy struck at the Utah Sky Trials on Saturday. Brad Townsend’s falcon Rob had just put on a spectacular flight, one of the best of the day, and chased the pigeon out of sight. Rob pursued with vigor and eventually caught the pigeon. As eagles do, one was watching from the clouds, saw an opportunity, swooped down and killed Rob.

In Nature these are not tragedies, it’s just how it works. The falcon was hunting for its meal, caught it and the eagle was also hunting for its meal and caught it. But for those of us who get to step into Nature and experience it first hand, losing a hunting partner is a tragedy and is painful.

As falconers, we understand the risk when we engage in this dramatic art. We know every time we fly our falcons it may be our last flight together. For Brad and his falcon Rob, it was. Brad will gear up and in due time train another falcon. He will again invest the time to train and develop a new bird. And while Rob’s loss will always be there, Brad will have seven years of memories of hunting with Rob to draw from. Such memories and the dreams of future flights with another falcon drive us to continue in this alluring sport.