Falconry

[The15thMember]

My youngest sister Charlotte is just starting her journey as a falconer.  Last fall she was matched with a sponsor from the NC Falconer's Guild to mentor her, and last weekend she went to the Wildlife Commission HQ in Raleigh to take her apprentice test.  She needed at least 80% to pass and she got a 96%.  She is now officially a licensed apprentice. 

The next step will be to finish the construction of her mews to house her bird and have it inspected by our district biologist.  Below are some pictures of how it looks so far.  Then her sponsor will help her trap a passage red-tailed hawk (a young hawk on its first migration) and help her train it.     

The last picture is my other sister's pet chicken Beaky testing out the hawk transport box. 

[Bakersdozen]

What a fascinating, ancient skill to learn! I am pleased that there are requirements involved.
Is she interested in doing any breeding? Or using the bird for hunting? Or simply as a hobby? 

[The15thMember]

Hunting is her primary interest.  She will likely be hunting mostly squirrels to start. 

[Bakersdozen]

We have a lot of Red Tailed Hawks here plus a number of other breeds. We also have a lot of squirrels! I have watched the hawks try to snag a squirrel. It's pretty challenging for them. So far the terrier has been in charge controlling the squirrel population, but he's getting older and slower.

[The15thMember]

The mews is all but finished.  It just needs another couple bags of pea gravel on the floor and to clean up all the scraps from around the building site.  Then Charlotte's sponsor will come out and see it, and if he okays it, then the Wildlife Commission will come out and officially inspect and certify it.

[Bakersdozen]

Is the diet of a hawk all protein or does it eat grains like a chicken?

[The15thMember]

Hawks are obligate carnivores, so their diet consists entirely of prey animals.  For small hawks this can mean insects instead of more traditional game animals. Hawks can eat honey though. 

[neillsayers]

My wife and I are ex-falconers. We had to let it go when life became too hectic but I have a lot of wonderful memories from our adventures. Thanks for this. 

[The15thMember]

Wow, @neillsayers , that's cool!  What kind of birds did you fly?

[neillsayers]

We both had red tails. She had a big female named Sareka. I had a tercel, who's name I can't recall at this moment.

[The15thMember]

We have been having some trouble with the mews roof leaking.  The builders think they know what they did wrong, something with the overlap of two of the roof pieces, and after many attempts at a band-aid fix, they decided to just rip off this section and redo it right.  We had some VERY heavy rain overnight, and it seems like it's not leaking now.   

Charlotte's sponsor was supposed to come last week, but he hurt his hand, so his inspection has been delayed until it heals enough for him to fly his plane.  It ended up working out though, since the roof needed to be redone anyway.

[Bakersdozen]

Patience Grasshopper. 

[The15thMember]

   The truth is there is really no rush.  Red tail trapping season isn't until the fall anyway, so there is plenty of time to get everything settled. 

[The15thMember]

The district biologist came out earlier in the week and certified the mews.  Charlotte's sponsor warned that the biologist probably wouldn't have a lot of experience with falconry, and he was correct; our biologist had only certified 3 other mews in his 20 year career with the Wildlife Commission.  As as result of his inexperience, there was a little bit of confusion about whether Charlotte was required to also have a weathering area for her bird.  Our state doesn't require it, but that information was also on the biologist's checklist, and so he was under the impression it was in fact a requirement, but a quick call to his supervisor straightened the situation out.

Now that the mews is certified, the state has officially registered her in the federal database of falconers, and Charlotte was able to print out her paperwork and falconry license showing that she is a certified apprentice with the legal ability to trap and keep one raptor for the purpose of falconry.  I also helped her get set up with an account on the US Fish and Wildlife Services website so she can register her bird once she traps one.           

She still needs to get her hunting license, but to do that she first has to pass our state's online hunter safety education course, so she is working on that right now.   

[Bakersdozen]

Do falconers train their birds to hunt a specific prey? Or do they send them out to see what they can find?  Fascinating!

[The15thMember]

Typically falconers are training a bird to specific prey, sometimes one species, sometimes several.  This ensures the bird, which is basically considered a type of hunting weapon in the eyes of the Wildlife Commission, only takes prey that it is currently legal to hunt.  Of course, a hawk is not always 100% controllable and sometimes makes mistakes, but falconers are typically exempt from the occasional mishap of a bird taking illegal prey, provided the falconer reports the incident to the Commission.

This also enables falconers to train hawks to do specific jobs, such as abatement, where a falconer is hired by a landowner to hunt and remove pest species, like starlings for example.