Saturday was an amazing day. Joel and I got up at 3:45 am and drove over an hour to a remote field in the Antelope Valley. We were there for a demonstration of the use of falcons and other raptors as bird abatement. Go check out Falcon Force, I love human ingenuity. Over 4000 years ago the Chinese tamed and trained falcons as hunters to put food on the table, then for years, Falconry was the sport of kings. Today this sport is being turned into a way of controlling pest birds in agriculture, airports and even pigeon removal. Thank you also to Obscura Society LA for arranging this field trip.
Vahe with Shaman, a peregrine falcon.
Becky, sorry don’t remember the name of this bird.
It takes special people to be falconers – it’s not easy to get a license, and then to care for these birds is a full time job. Both Vahe and Becky are hunters, their respect and love for these birds is abundantly evident.
There is a lot of training, the birds learn to come to a lure, which is a tennis ball with pigeon wings attached. They learn that once they catch the ball, they are immediately rewarded with food – not much different from training any other animal – like dogs or orcas.
And he takes flight! The birds are outfitted with homing devices. This is very important, Vahe has lost birds and was able to retrieve them because of the homing device. The safest place is a small backpack which is what you see here. Leg devices can get damaged easily or can kill the bird if he accidentally lands on a electrical wire.
This bird has both homing devices on right now.
Some of the falcons can fly up to speeds of 280 mph, so the handlers have to be very swift themselves with the ball. The raptors have an incredible sense of space, their eyesight is like a telescope, one flew right by Joel’s head – without touching him – they are that good.
Once the raptor catches the ball, he is rewarded with pigeon meat.
When the bird is first released, it flies far and wide. The idea is to have them fly over a vineyard, or orchard and frighten away the birds. Vahe doesn’t want them to come right back, when he wants them he calls and twirls the pigeon ball.
Two birds at once, notice one is right below Vahe, meanwhile Becky is photographing the other one in flight. Yes, photography is another profession of theirs.
Sometime the bird ignores the ball, hey they all have their own personalities, here he is simply tempting him back with a piece of meat.
Training the birds to fly from one spot to another.
This is very important for places like Sea World, pigeon and seagull abatement. There are raptors there full time, flying back and forth and keeping the birds at bay. You probably never even notice them. A few years ago, we were in Trafalgar Square, a Falconer was walking around with a falcon on his gloved arm. Never let it go, just walking around movingthe pigeons. They immediately when a hunter is around. Most people never saw him, unlike me, who is always looking around carefully at my surroundings.
One of the audience is a woman who runs a little hotel in Hermosa Beach, their pigeon problem in out of control. Falcon Force are not cheap, but they are trying them for abatement. They just started a few days ago, so they have to give it time to see how well it works, she was extremely impressed by the demonstration.
I’m breaking this into two posts, more birds!
Leah
So cool! At the Bacara resort near Santa Barbara, we met a falconer and her birds. The hotel uses the birds to keep the seagulls away from guests enjoying the pool, golf course, and beach. The falconer explained she also is employed by the local wineries, whose grapes would otherwise be picked over by gulls and other sorts of birds. One of her birds was an African Eagle Owl, a two-foot-tall bird with wickedly long claws. Wowza!
Yes, these people are very active in vineyards, Cherry trees and blueberry farms up in Washington. I would love to see an owl!! Btw, most of the birds they have to use are non-native – because of the wildlife protections laws, but as more people get into the business, the laws are becoming clearer – as long as they don’t do what most laws end up doing – being worse than the problem they hoped to solve.