Falconry World

The Rochester Democrate and Chronicle newspaper report that an American couple have been married with a Bald eagle as the best man and a red tail hawk, as the maid of honor.

The now husband-wife team met at the annual Bird of Prey Days at Braddock Bay Park in Greece. After dating for two years, they were married last June, in a backyard ceremony at their home — which also serves as a falconry center.

“I hit the jackpot,” Paul Schnell, 48, said. “We are like a mated pair of eagles. We think alike. She always has a high degree of excellence and that’s important in a relationship when both of you share that.”The Schnells tend 10 birds of prey — two eagles, two barred owls, two red-tailed hawks, a broad-winged hawk, a red-shouldered hawk, a Coopers hawk and a Harris’s hawk — that they use in their environmental education programs for children and adults.