Falconry is something I've always wanted to get into since I was a kid. It's tough though. Long, difficult written test, supervision by an experienced falconer, approval from the wildlife service...
Falconry is something I've always wanted to get into since I was a kid. It's tough though. Long, difficult written test, supervision by an experienced falconer, approval from the wildlife service for enclosure, and of course all of the time taking care of the raptor.
Yes, it takes serious dedication! I haven't heard complaints about the written test from friends who are falconers, and they complain about everything. But maybe compared to everything else you...
Yes, it takes serious dedication! I haven't heard complaints about the written test from friends who are falconers, and they complain about everything. But maybe compared to everything else you have to learn, it's not that big a deal?
I took a falconry class once (which was really more like a “hang out with a falconer for a couple of hours” than a “class” as such). I feel like there is so much to know about the various raptors...
I took a falconry class once (which was really more like a “hang out with a falconer for a couple of hours” than a “class” as such). I feel like there is so much to know about the various raptors and how to take care of them that by the time you learn enough to take a test you shouldn’t have too hard a time at it. In other words, if you have trouble with a test it’s questionable how good of a falconer you’d be.
They’re not like domesticated dogs or cats where they instinctively understand how to communicate what they want from us. They’re just sort of wild animals. They don’t even really seem to form very strong emotional bonds with their handlers. I knew going in that corvids are supposed to be really smart and social so I figured raptors would have similar kinds of sociability but they just didn’t. I imagined there was some kind of emotional bond between handler and bird akin to how people and working dogs can work as a team. But the birds don’t give a shit about anyone. You just keep bribing them with food. The only reason they even work as hunting aids is because their brains have so sense of scale, you can trade them a finger sized morsel of meat in exchange for a whole rabbit and they’re just like “this is fine.”
She was telling me they mostly just dive bomb anything they see that’s moving and has a furry texture. And from a distance they can’t really tell the difference between a horse or a squirrel because of their brains’ aforementioned inability to understand the concept of scale. I’m amazed animals this dumb can still look so majestic!
I'm sure the test wouldn't actually be that big of a hurdle, it's everything else haha. There's a reason there are only a few hundred falconers per state.
I'm sure the test wouldn't actually be that big of a hurdle, it's everything else haha. There's a reason there are only a few hundred falconers per state.
As [California] slowly reopens, maybe there will continue to be a need for trained birds of prey to flush sparrows from the poolside arbors of fancy hotels. Or to provide a line of defense for cinematography drones against territorial sea gulls. Or to make paid appearances at special occasions, including engagement shoots and vow renewals.
At least, this is the hope and prayer of Adam Baz, whose highly variable hustle as a freelance falconer requires that even his owl has headshots.
“Frankly, as a millennial who spent 10 years floating somewhere between babysitter, musician and bird biologist and never making that much money, I wanted to start moving along a career path,” said Mr. Baz, 35, who was first drawn to falconry in its more traditional form, as an ancient blood sport. During the two-year apprenticeship required to earn his General Class designation — a step in the formal hierarchy of falconers — he learned that it was possible to not only hunt game with raptors, but to bring home a paycheck.
Now, operating as Hawk on Hand, he works as a subcontractor for bird abatement companies like Integrated Avian Services in Portland, Ore., and Hawk Pros in Eagle, Idaho. They provide falconry services across the Western U.S. to scare away “pest birds” — sea gulls, sparrows, starlings, pigeons — from agricultural, commercial and municipal properties, airports, fields of solar panels and anywhere else birds could be a nuisance.
Urban bird abatement falconry first became a viable career path in 2007 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a federal permitting program for the use of protected raptors, some of which are well-suited to flying in urban environments. As of 2019, only 137 permits had been issued nationwide, but more than a third are held by falconers in California, where the weather is hospitable to both birds and people year-round, and many business owners are drawn to greener or more humane alternatives to bird control (which might otherwise include bird sound deterrents, hostile architecture or toxic substances known as avicides).
[...]
Cassie McGraw, 37, a bird abatement freelancer who spends five days a week chasing sea gulls away from refuse at a Bay Area transfer station said, “You can make all this money, sure, if you get that one great contract. But most of us, especially in the beginning, we have to hustle. Sometimes we go months without anything.”
Falconry is something I've always wanted to get into since I was a kid. It's tough though. Long, difficult written test, supervision by an experienced falconer, approval from the wildlife service for enclosure, and of course all of the time taking care of the raptor.
Very interesting article, thanks for sharing.
Yes, it takes serious dedication! I haven't heard complaints about the written test from friends who are falconers, and they complain about everything. But maybe compared to everything else you have to learn, it's not that big a deal?
I took a falconry class once (which was really more like a “hang out with a falconer for a couple of hours” than a “class” as such). I feel like there is so much to know about the various raptors and how to take care of them that by the time you learn enough to take a test you shouldn’t have too hard a time at it. In other words, if you have trouble with a test it’s questionable how good of a falconer you’d be.
They’re not like domesticated dogs or cats where they instinctively understand how to communicate what they want from us. They’re just sort of wild animals. They don’t even really seem to form very strong emotional bonds with their handlers. I knew going in that corvids are supposed to be really smart and social so I figured raptors would have similar kinds of sociability but they just didn’t. I imagined there was some kind of emotional bond between handler and bird akin to how people and working dogs can work as a team. But the birds don’t give a shit about anyone. You just keep bribing them with food. The only reason they even work as hunting aids is because their brains have so sense of scale, you can trade them a finger sized morsel of meat in exchange for a whole rabbit and they’re just like “this is fine.”
She was telling me they mostly just dive bomb anything they see that’s moving and has a furry texture. And from a distance they can’t really tell the difference between a horse or a squirrel because of their brains’ aforementioned inability to understand the concept of scale. I’m amazed animals this dumb can still look so majestic!
I'm sure the test wouldn't actually be that big of a hurdle, it's everything else haha. There's a reason there are only a few hundred falconers per state.
From the article:
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