About Us
Monadnock Falconry is a partnership between two Master Falconers. The friends make an unlikely pair:
one, a self-taught, salt-of-the-earth New Hampshire
dairy farmer, the other a poet and teacher.
Henry Walters took an unlikely route to falconry. An undergraduate Latin course led him to Frederick the Great’s 13th-century treatise, De arte venandi cum avibus, or Concerning the Art of Hunting with Birds. Here, for the first time in history, a person was taking the lives of birds—their habits, their eccentricities, even their personalities—seriously! After graduating, a traveling fellowship brought him to Ireland’s School of Falconry, where he apprenticed with some of the finest falconers in Europe, flying raptors such as the peregrine falcon, sparrowhawk, Eurasian eagle-owl, ferruginous hawk, and northern goshawk. Working in Ireland, Henry fell in love with a pursuit that could spark the imagination of people from such different places and walks of life.
On returning to the United States, Henry earned his falconry license in Massachusetts before moving north, where he worked as a seasonal raptor biologist for New Hampshire Audubon and co-founded the New Hampshire Young Birders Club. As a teacher, naturalist, and writer, Henry has found ways to make environmental education a creative endeavor. Now a Master Falconer in New Hampshire, he lives in the town of Hancock with his young family.
Martin Connolly has been creating a unique relationship with the natural world since childhood. As a boy in the Bronx, he nursed an injured kestrel in his own bedroom and was hooked on birds for life. On moving to New Hampshire, Marty and his wife Lynda built their house in Temple with their own hands and raised three boys on a working dairy farm. As a Master Falconer and raptor rehabilitator, Marty and his red-tailed hawk, “The General,” made quite an impression on more traditional pheasant hunters around New England. Whether chasing snowshoe hares with a pack of Bassett hounds (the hares always came out on top) or holding listeners rapt with stories of improbable wildlife encounters, Marty has encouraged countless people, young and old, to get out and explore the woods by any means necessary.
Katrina Rosa was born and raised in the woodlands of the Monadnock region by Deaf parents, alongside a menagerie of animal friends. Noticing and connecting with the natural world has simply been a way of life in rural communities where animals far outnumber humans. Her insight into the well-being of the birds in her care has deep roots in her own primary language, American Sign Language, in which communication is both visual and embodied. This early affinity has led to a lifelong adventure in the fields of farming, veterinary medicine, and rescue of both domestic and wild animals. As an apprentice rehabilitator and falconer, Katrina is an unmatched ambassador between people and the avian world.
Sussie Holzberlein is an avid volunteer in support of worthy causes and an amateur photographer. Her full-time job is as a Christian Science Practitioner. She came to Monadnock Falconry for a Hawk Walk in September of 2024 and, seeing the magnitude of the work that was being done with and for the birds, wanted to contribute in whatever support role was possible. She began weekly volunteer work later that same month.
The Grouse Woods at Red Gate Farm, the home of Monadnock Falconry, offers the very best of New England natural history, culture, and landscape. Located on the eastern slope of Pack Monadnock, beech and hemlock stands weave in and out of meadows bordered by birch and alder, as well as old pastures and wetlands that have been cared for by the Connolly family for decades. Conceived as a hunting preserve and maintained for a variety of habitats, The Grouse Woods is home to a diverse array of wildlife, including black bear, bobcat, coyote, and over 100 species of birds in the course of a year. Whether you come when the trillium is blooming in spring or when the leaves explode in color each fall, a walk on this land will make you fall in love with all New Hampshire has to offer.
Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm, adjacent to The Grouse Woods, is a hotbed of activity and a destination in its own right. Baked goods, eggs, meats, raw cow’s milk, maple syrup, and the area’s best ice cream—made on site—are just some of what the farm store has for sale. Even as many dairy farms have disappeared from the Northeast, the Connollys’ beautiful Jersey cows are a testament to an unbroken tradition that links this family to the land.