Questions about falconry?
I can answer some of these questions...but if you are really interested in falconry you need to first train as an apprentice under an already licensed falconer before you can even attempt to obtain your own bird. ALL of these questions can be answered by the mentor falconer you will train with and you will have 2 years to research this as that is how long you will train. Some falconers capture birds (must have the proper permits to do this) and some purchase birds from other falconers. Most falconers start with a Red-tailed Hawk or a Harris Hawk. I hear kestral are not really good for this sport. In the past, Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles were listed as endangered species and therefore could not be used in Falconry. I think they do allow for use of Peregrine Falcons now, but once again, permits would come into play. As far as using a Bald Eagle..unless you are hunting fish these birds would probably not be much use. They do hunt small mammals but their main diet is fish, so not sure you can train them to exclusively hunt small mammals and not fish. Yes, falconry is expensive, not only to upkeep your license and permits, but to buy and care for the bird. Also you must abide by laws set by US Fish and Wildlife on how to house and care for these birds. You will be subject to unannounced inspections. If you are not in compliance you can be heavily fined and/or jailed. I suggest you do a lot more research on falconry before you decide if it is right for you. More info here: http://www.ehow.com/how_2060726_become-falconer.html
Can an osprey be used for falconry?
Osprey In Falconry. Ospreys are not used infalconry at all. ... Other birds used more often infalconry like the Peregrine Falcon and the Harris Hawk generally eat the prey on the ground where it is caught or at least can be taught to do so.
What is it like to have Harris's hawk as a pet?
First, they're not pets. Unless you're a drug lord trying to prove how tough you are, owning a raptor is pretty much meaningless if you don't go out and hunt game with it. That said, they are the raptor with the most mammalian mindset. Someone called them a flying wolf pack, a bit romantically put, but they are fairly unique in that they have a social structure and hunt in loose family groups. They have roles: flushers (usually males, which are smaller) and the catchers. So when put together with humans, the falconer becomes part of the social structure where he/she does the flushing and the Harris does the catching. The Harris takes to the falconry partnership much more readily than other species of raptors.Harrises make interesting companions because of this connection with their human. They're a bit more playful than other types of hawks, more curious about things that don't involve hunting or food; their vocalizations indicate mood; they can be influenced by the way you talk to them. Source: owned two for about 10+ years.
How do I get a bird of prey as a pet? I’m interested in falconry, and want a hawk or an eagle.
Oh dear God no. You don't. If you're even asking this question, you really, really don't want, and in any event aren't prepared to handle, a bird of prey.Birds of prey are cool. They are also very dangerous, very powerful predators with a fearsome arsenal of weaponry and very small brains.My partner Zaiah’s father is a falconer. He got out of it some time ago, because it's an expensive sport that demands you do a lot of training and maintain a lot of equipment for the questionable benefit of dealing with unruly, bad-tempered animals that will gleefully injure or maim you for the most trivial mistake.Last December, he found an injured Harris’s hawk, which he rescued and rehabilitated.Now, the Harris’s hawk is often considered a docile, forgiving, and generally pleasantly-disposed bird of prey, for a bird of prey. That qualifier is important.This particular bird was quite lovely, no doubt about it. It was also aggressive, foul-mannered, meanspirited, and needed to be treated gingerly and with suitable protective gear.It was quite lovely, but honestly, I wouldn't go into the same room with it. Call me a coward, but I'm quite attached to my fingers and eyes and would prefer to keep them in their accustomed places in the same quantities I was born with. Gorgeous animal, but I'd sooner walk into a room with an exposed core of a nuclear reactor—you need the right clothing in both instances, but the nuclear core isn't going to get it in its head that it doesn't like the way you look or smell or move and decide to come after you.If you're “sorta interested,” don't. A bird of prey is not a chinchilla. You have to go all in if falconry is something you want to do, and that means understanding that you're embarking on a huge commitment of time, money, equipment, training, and space to engage in a high-risk hobby with temperamental, aggressive animals that can and will do serious injury to you if you slip up.(If you're wondering about the hawk, he kept it for about four or five weeks until it recovered and then released it. It still makes occasional appearances on the property.)
What is a good starting falcon breed?
Depending on where you are living, the requirements and regulations for becoming a falconer might dictate what birds you can have for a beginning falconry bird.I would strongly, strongly, strongly discourage you from trying to train as a falconer all by yourself. You really should apprentice yourself to an experienced falconer. It is much too easy for an inexperienced person working by himself to ruin a bird, injure or kill a bird because you don’t know what you are doing, lose a bird to disease because you don’t know what to look for, or lose a bird by having it escape.Now, the easiest bird for an inexperienced falconer is not a falcon at all. It is a hawk, of the species parabuteo, that is called the Harris’s HawkHarris's hawk - WikipediaThey are uniquely suited to falconry because they are unique in their behavior. They routinely hunt in family groups. They even hunt in unrelated groups. They are able to form an actual bond with their handler, and are much more reliable about returning to him in the field, or even when accidentally lost.This is why they are generally the bird of choice in European and British falconry training courses.
Are kites suitable for falconry?
I don’t know anyone who has attempted to train either of these species, so I can’t vouch as to their temperament — and after a cursory reading about their prey, and hunting behavior, neither one of them seem well-suited to falconry — and here’s why: each species natural inclination (to which it is likely to revert, while hunting) don’t match up with what most people hope to get out of falconry.Birds that would rather scavenge than hunt (Pariah Kite) probably won’t be much fun to hunt with — they won’t have the boldness of a falcon, the acrobatic daring of a goshawk, or the cunning of a harris hawk.For the Brahminy Kite, the same rationale applies to it as to the North American Osprey: once it catches it’s prey (especially fish), it does not stay in that spot, but instead flies to a tree, rock, or some other high place to consume it’s meal. Which means it may be difficult to ‘train’ that instinct out of it. As a falconer, it can be frustrating to have your bird make a kill, but then fly off out-of-sight with it, leaving you wondering if it will ever come back.Yes, people have trained cormorants to fish cooperatively with humans — but that’s not falconry, if you ask me!If you are hoping to find a good bird for falconry, start with whatever prey is plentiful in your area (squirrels, mice, rats, smaller birds, etc.) that would be interesting for you to hunt, and find out what raptors prey on them, then among those, try to find out which of them have a temperament that could work well in falconry (is it easily trained?) — and go from there.Best of luck!
How often do Harris’s hawks need to be flown?
As with any falconry bird, be it a red-tailed hawk, a kestrel, peregrine, golden eagle, goshawk, or ferruginous hawk (to name a few), the falconer is obligated to fly his or her bird as often as possible—allowing for business, relaxation, and other matters of life, at least four to five times a week. Be they raised in captivity or captured and trained straight from the wild, every hawk, falcon, and eagle commonly or uncommonly used in falconry has a spark of wild in it, and they were made to hunt, and hunt often. Keeping a hawk as a pet or as ornamentation and flying it very rarely or not at all is denying it its highest instinct and its greatest right.
Is it true that harris hawks are affectionate towards their handlers?
Here is a good place to get answers about falconry and the various types of birds they work with: http://www.falconryacademy.com/