I can't really tell from the pics, but is your raptor man a red-tail? He's looks big in the photos, so that's what I'm guessing. So jealous, I love hawks. I can't wait for the session in the docent training where we get to handle the raptors, I'm going to crap myself for joy (pleasant sounding, huh).

How likely are raptors to strike with their beaks? The one time I held one in the wild (I nearly ran the poor baby over with a swather, not cool) he didn't try to attack me at all with his beak but kept striking out with his legs (this was a prairie hawk, if it makes a difference). I had a hard time putting him back, he was so cute.