Our Adventure with a Master Falconer
November 17-19, 2003
Alex with a Gyr Falcon
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Raptors are carnivorous, that is, meat-eating birds. As with people, bears and many mammals, there are omnivorous birds, that is, opportunistic feeders, birds like crows and ravens, which eat a variety of foods, including live prey and the remains of dead animals. Raptors, in their essence, evolved as highly specialized predators, in many respects the descendents of the fearsome carnivorous, bi-pedal dinosaurs popularized in "Jurassic Park". As a scientist participating in a recent study of dinosaur development quipped, "Tyrannosaurus Rex had more in common with a Perdue chicken than any reptile that ever lived". Birds of prey share three main characteristics: extraordinarily keen eyesight, four sharp talons on each foot and a hooked beak. These features make raptors the most efficient predators in the animal kingdon. Raptors have been around for over 50 million years. There are 482 species of raptor worldwide, of which 304 are diurnal, that is, active during the day, and 178 are nocturnal, active at night. The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota's general grouping of raptors include
Endangered and Threatened Raptors of the United States |
Steve with Red-Tail
| Falconry, the practice of hunting with falcons and hawks, began over 4,000 years ago, spread throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and is one of the world’s oldest sports. Nature invariably deals a harsh hand, and seventy percent of raptor young starve in the wild during their first year. While falconry began as a practical way to provide food for the falconer, it greatly increases the longevity of the bird as well. For example, barring accident and disease (a major "if"in a bird's life!), a red-tailed hawk can expect to live about 15 years in the wild, while a sheltered, regularly fed and exercised red-tail may live more than twice as long. |
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| Falconers worked with scientists to save the Peregrine Falcon, the fastest animal on earth, and the bald eagle. DDT, a pesticide formerly used in agriculture in the U.S., worked its way into the food chain and into our waters through runoff, showing up in many of the birds and small rodents which falcons eat. In the pernicious manner in which such factors manifest themselves in nature, the higher place in the food chain an animal occupied, the higher the concentration of DDT. The devastating effect on falcons and eagles was a thinning and weakening of their egg shells, which would often collapse under the weight of the nesting parent, resulting in species-threatening, low birth rates. Falconers alerted scientists that they were discovering this in the wild, and then provided money and programs to help breed the endangered birds to help restore their numbers in the wild. |
| Alex, Wendy and Steve spent three days at “Talons – A Birds of Prey Experience”, in Earlville, in Central New York, where Master Falconers Mark and Lorrie Westman introduced us to falconry, and taught us about hawks, falcons and owls, their behavior, life factors and environments. We were so enthralled, we look forward to taking the State Falconry Apprentice licensing exam in the Spring. It was a fascinating experience we recommend to all animal lovers. |
