I've just come across this thread!
I have a pair of Harris Hawks.
They will catch and kill quite a number of rabbits, hare, crows, squirrels, crows, per day.
they would indeed just catch one and eat it if left to their own devices but removing the kill and giving them a small reward keeps them in hunting mode for the rest of the day.
Mine are too slow for catching pigeons, you'd need one of the faster hawks or falcons for that, Peregrines etc but for rabbits etc they are ideal.
The female as with most birds of prey is significantly larger than the male, in Harris hawks the female is almost half as big again as the male, meaning she is a lot more powerful though slightly less agile and quick off the mark.
The male can catch squirrels, which the female struggles to do, though she is quite capable of taking down a hare which he would struggle with.
Harris hawks are one of the few birds of prey that hunt co-operatively in groups, most birds of prey are solitary hunters.
The males will usually flush out the prey, even if that means walking around on foot to chase a rabbit out of a bush for the rest of them to drop down from above and catch it.
Watching them race to catch up to the prey then work together as a team to bring it down is something well worth experiencing.
The lead bird will fly in hard to take down the rabbit with another one or two hanging just behind like the wingmen in fighter planes waiting on the rabbit coming into their sights.
If the lead bird misses or the rabbit makes a change of direction it finds itself in the flightpath of the second bird arriving just a split second later at full speed.
As a means of pest control falconry is very poor, the kill rate is very low for the time spent.
If my main aim were to harvest rabbits I'd easily get 10 times as many by sitting out with an air rifle.
Despite this many falconers advertise their services for pest control. It does work if you're doing it constantly but to pay someone to do that would cost a fortune!
I have a friend who flies Peregrines at the local airport to keep birds away and again that does work (whilst he's there) but the birds come back as soon as the falcons leave.
Great fun but as an effective means of pest control no.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuREwkSeS8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3eVjr0Pzghttp://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/vulture_king?source=relatedvideo