Ethno-ornithology Sunday: falconry

Image from: http://stronghold2.heavengames.com/cpix/f-lady.jpg

I’ve been interested in falconry since about 1994, correlating with when I began volunteering at Wildlife Images. I’d had no real interest in working with raptors until I watched them up close. Even in enclosed areas they are magnificent. Undoubtedly my real interest in falconry came from assisting with the training of program birds and working with wild birds to prepare them for release (make sure they were in shape). Anyway, I was interested in falconry until I found out where most birds used come from. They’re often wild birds that are captured and “trained.” In honor of ethno-ornithology Sunday I’m delving deeper into falconry.
The North American Falconers Association (NAFA) defines falconry as “taking wild quarry in its natural state with a trained raptor." According to a PBS special on falconry, there is evidence that raptors were used for hunting in China as long ago as 2,205 BC, during the Heian Dynasty. There is evidence of falconry in Arabia and Persia dating back to 1700 BC. In Europe, falconry dates back to 300 BC. During the middle ages falconry was particularly popular, some ren-fests even have falconry displays. When the Spanish made it to Mexico they discovered that Aztecs were using falcons for hunting as well (which I find AMAZING). Finally PBS also mentions that William Shakespeare was an avid falconer, which makes me like him even more.

Photo from: http://www.claytor.com/photographs/images/picFalconryDubai.jpg

Falconry is legal, with proper training and permits, in every state but Delaware, Maryland (though I seem to find contention between a few sites) and Connecticut. Various laws regarding falconry can be found here: http://www.n-a-f-a.org/htm/about_fal/fedlaws.htm. The international association of falconry and conservation of birds of prey have great information on the history of falconry, falconry today and various other falconry links: http://www.i-a-f.org/ftoday.html.

Photo from: http://buildyourownbirdhouseplans.com/images/Gloygum31235American_Kestrel_II_800x600.jpg

Aside from the length of time and breadth of space falconry has encompassed the strata created regarding the types of birds in use are pretty amazing. Several pages describe this stratification as an Eagle for an Emperor, a Gyrfalcon for a King, the Peregrine for a Duke, the Goshawk for Yeoman, the Merlin for a Lady, the Spar (eurasian Sparrowhawk) for a Priest, the Kestrel for an Altar boy. Birds would often be trapped in the Fall or late Summer and then released again in the Spring. Apparently, this continued until about 30 years ago, when many falconers began using captive bred birds. Some, such as renaissance man: http://www.therenaissanceman.org/falconry.html still follow tradition, releasing birds once Spring arrives. Part of the reason for this is that while molting birds cannot be flown and are therefore not catching their own food. So, what would be the purpose of “hawking” (as falconry is also known) with wild birds? Historically people would eat what the birds caught, sharing what they didn’t consume with their birds. Today I believe that tradition is the main factor, though I’m sure that some people still eat what their birds catch.

Photo from: http://www.gyrfalcons.co.uk/IX6B1820.JPG

An interesting aspect of falconry, which I’d never considered before, is the propagation of hawks and falcons specifically for falconry. Falconers commonly use kestrels, gyrfalcons, peregrines, red-tailed hawks and other accipters and buteos. Eagles are occasionally used (though it doesn’t seem often). Owls even become falconers’ birds, though training them focuses on an audio attack, not a visual one. Eurasian owls and great horned owls seem to be the most popular, as far as breeding goes at the very least.
Finally, falconers can do a lot of good. When peregrines were first listed as endangered it was falconers that donated birds for the breeding programs. By proxy without falconers peregrines would have likely gone extinct. The peregrine fund’s site is informative, check it out: http://www.peregrinefund.org/default.asp. Here I should mention that naïve and untrained falconers can cause great damage to their birds and bird populations. Care must be taken when trapping a bird, to ensure that they survive the initial trapping. Caring for a bird-of-prey can be expensive; care must be taken to ensure the bird’s health. Additionally if a species is sensitive, capturing one, even for a few months could be detrimental to the population as a whole.

Where do I stand, now that I’ve perused 7-10 websites about falconry? Well, I used to be opposed to falconry. Some animal rights activists apparently disapprove of falconry, though I seem unable to find any websites supporting this. Therefore I’m actually feeling in favor of falconry. Maybe my feelings of approval are misguided and misinformed; hopefully I’d figure that out rather quickly. Either way, at this moment in time I see no reason why people shouldn’t be falconers, particularly with domestic birds (I’m still put off by the idea of capturing wild birds and trying to make them bond with a person). That’s falconry in a nutshell, my nutshell at least!

Some other great websites: Falconry Academy, Western Sporting, and Oregon Falconers Association.