When someone spots one of these escaped birds in the wild, getting through to the “right” person for reporting and appropriate\u00a0action is cumbersome, time-consuming and frustrating (believe me, I know!).\u00a0 It’s difficult to get through all the layers of DWR’s bureaucracy, finding a rehabber who can help isn’t easy and there hasn’t been an efficient avenue for a non-falconer\u00a0to report a\u00a0found bird to the falconry community.\u00a0 The North America Falconer’s Association (NAFA) website has a form for reporting lost birds but it’s only been\u00a0available to members and not the general public.\u00a0\u00a0Many lost birds are found by non-falconers.<\/p>\n
But that has now changed.\u00a0 Thanks to the efforts of master falconer Mark Runnels, Utah Falconers Association president Chris Wall and\u00a0NAFA President Larry Dickerson, the NAFA website now has a reporting form that is available to the general public – no username and password required.\u00a0 Larry will assign an appropriate person to monitor these reports.\u00a0 When a lost bird is reported by a falconer or<\/em> <\/span>anyone else<\/span>, <\/em>word will be sent out quickly so that appropriate action can be taken.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I think this development is a big deal.\u00a0 There are many thousands of birders, bird photographers, nature lovers and others in the field every day, many with scopes and binos, looking for and at birds.\u00a0 Who knows how many lost falconry birds (most from rogue falconers)\u00a0they might see.\u00a0 And now they have an efficient avenue through which to report them.<\/p>\n The next step is to publicize this new asset.\u00a0 I hope that many of you will help to spread the word to your friends and acquaintances who care about the welfare of birds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meet “Jack”.\u00a0 This is the male American Kestrel that Mia and I found three years ago.\u00a0 Normally we don’t give names to birds but we couldn’t help it in this case since we saw him so often in the same area as we were traveling to one of our favorite bird photography spots.\u00a0\u00a0 When I took this photo, Jack had just dived to the ground within about 10′ of my pickup and snatched this vole and then landed on the wire directly above us.<\/p>\n I’ve been told that these jesses are illegal because they’re too long – an ethical,\u00a0licensed falconer would\u00a0never<\/em> use them.\u00a0 I’m\u00a0sure you can see the dangers to the bird of having to\u00a0“make a living” in the wild with these\u00a0jesses still attached.<\/p>\n As Larry Dickerson said in his email last night, ” if we help one (bird), it will be worth it”.\u00a0 I suspect that, over the long haul, we can help many more birds\u00a0 than that.<\/p>\n I applaud the falconry community for their efforts.\u00a0 Those folks really do care deeply about their birds!<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just a quick post this morning to announce some more good news on the “lost falconry bird” front.\u00a0 (no, the female kestrel hasn’t yet\u00a0been recaptured, but I believe efforts are continuing). For those new to this issue, a quick summary:\u00a0 Occasionally, falconry birds escape through no fault of the handler.\u00a0 When they do, they typically still have falconry gear attached – jesses, anklets, telemetry gear etc.\u00a0 Every effort is made by the falconry community\u00a0to recapture these birds, usually with success.\u00a0 The larger\u00a0segment of the\u00a0problem comes from unethical\u00a0“rogue” or “wannabe” falconers who capture wild birds illegally and then\u00a0try to fly them without\u00a0proper knowledge and experience.\u00a0\u00a0 Due to negligence or inexperience these illegal\u00a0birds sometimes\u00a0escape with their “gear” attached, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage in the wild.\u00a0 My good friend and constant photography companion Mia McPherson and I have come across and photographed\u00a0three of these escaped birds in the last three years.\u00a0 At least two of the three were most likely the result of rogue falconers rather than the organized falconry community.\u00a0 More details of what has already transpired can be found here. When someone spots one of these escaped birds in the wild, getting through to the “right” person for reporting and appropriate\u00a0action is cumbersome, time-consuming and frustrating (believe me, I know!).\u00a0 It’s difficult to get through all the layers of DWR’s bureaucracy, finding a rehabber who can help isn’t easy and there hasn’t been an efficient avenue for a non-falconer\u00a0to report a\u00a0found bird to the falconry community.\u00a0 The North America Falconer’s Association (NAFA) website…<\/p>\n\n
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