Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nHi Ron,<\/p>\n
Meeting was cancelled, and this is more fun anyway!<\/p>\n
You have posed several excellent questions and they are too important to answer enmass. Let\u2019s take them one at a time to do them proper justice.<\/p>\n
You asked: \u201c1. You mention that your falcon (Jet) gets her food \u201cgratis\u201d only during the molt and imply that she must \u201cwork\u201d for all if it for the other 8 months. Are you saying that she only eats what she catches for that 8 months or do you supplement her diet? What about most other falconers \u2013 would you say that they all work their birds daily, so that for 2\/3 of the year they eat only (or mostly) what they\u2019ve hunted for?\u201d<\/p>\n
With most falconry birds, they eat a portion of what they catch and their diet is supplemented by the falconer with other food and vitamins. Like any athlete, the key is weight control. If the bird gets too fat, it has no interest in hunting, and just wants to sit on telephone poles and soar on thermals. We manage their weight to keep it as high as possible while still keeping their interest in hunting. Never, ever, ever to we starve a bird, or even get close to starving a bird. Not only does this endanger the bird, but they go into a \u201cshut down\u201d mode where they sit still and hope something easy wanders by. We want them fat and full of energy, but not so fat that they are not interested in hunting.<\/p>\n
To answer your question, I do believe that most other falconers\u00a0work their birds every day, or every other day. This sport is all about hunting. Birds of prey do not make good pets (in fact they make terrible pets), they are a lot of work and expense to keep, and there is really no other reason to have them. Most falconers I know are ready to hunt more than their birds are. I have a Cooper\u2019s hawk this year as well as Jet for just this reason.<\/p>\n
Jet is a special case. She is a phenomenal bird that cannot be replaced. I will let a Red Tail, or a Prairie falcon feed up on what they kill. They have a tough constitution and can tolerate the marginal food that wild game is. Jet on the other hand, eats only quail that are specially raised for falconry. The quail are raised on wire, in a USDA inspected and approved facility, are disease and pesticide free, and vitamin fortified. This is a key element is doubling the captive bird\u2019s life expectancy when compared with wild birds.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that Jet, like most Peregrines, can kill almost anything that flies. She killed two full grown\u00a0Canada geese last year. But when she approaches a flock of ducks, she will still go for the easiest, slowest duck. Perhaps this duck is diseased, old, or is carrying metal shot from a shotgunner. I won\u2019t risk letting Jet eat this. I let her spend a few minutes plucking a duck (there are a LOT of feathers on a duck!) and then will offer her a choice. She can continue with what she is doing, or step up to me to feed on fresh wholesome quail. She always has a choice, and she always chooses the quail.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean that the duck goes to waste! It is interesting that I won\u2019t feed Jet wild duck, but we do take them all home and eat them ourselves. Cooking destroys any disease organisms, and we check for metal shot. My kids love fried duck and look forward to my bringing one home. Any leftover parts that we don\u2019t eat are checked carefully and frozen to feed the other birds.<\/p>\n
You stated \u201c\u2026imply that she must \u201cwork\u201d for all if it for the other 8 months.\u201d The kite training is preparation for hunting, like an athlete training, if you will. The Peregrine is the undisputed master of the sky and she loves to fly. I can\u2019t force her to do anything, only encourage her by setting up situations where she improves her muscle and condition in preparation for hunting. We typically kite train for about a month before the season. After that, it is all hunting.<\/p>\n
Jet can leave at any time and hunt on her own. The ONLY thing keeping her with me is that I make hunting (and life in general) easier for her. She doesn\u2019t like me, she isn\u2019t domesticated, she really has a choice, and stays because life with me is easier than life without me. If I tried to force her to work, being with me wouldn\u2019t be easier than hunting on her own and she would be gone in a moment.<\/p>\n
A typical hunt mimics a wild Peregrine hunting. I put Jet up near a pond full of ducks, or a field full of pheasants. Just like a wild bird, she rings up to 1,000+ feet and waits there. The difference is that a wild Peregrine may have to wait hours for an opportunity at a duck or pheasant that happens to fly into or out of the area. If Jet stays with me, I act as a hunting partner and flush the ducks or pheasants for her. It’s all about me serving her, not vice versa. From 1000 feet up (or more) she can see for miles. I am certain that she sees other opportunities, but chooses to stay with me because it is easier than hunting on her own.<\/p>\n
The bottom line: Jet gets a special diet, but most falconry birds get at least some of what they kill. Any excess is frozen to feed them in the off season.<\/p>\n
While you can never say all, the vast majority of falconers hunt their birds a minimum of three times a week. It has been my experience that those that don\u2019t, do not have the drive it takes to be a successful falconer and soon fade away to something less demanding.<\/p>\n
More later!<\/p>\n
Mark<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My Response:<\/strong><\/p>\nIncredibly interesting stuff, Mark!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve watched both peregrines and prairies hunting ducks out along the causeway and it is so VERY impressive to see but I\u2019m blown away that a 1.6 lb peregrine will take on a Canada Goose that can weigh up to 6 times as much as the falcon. Seeing that would be worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve answered my question, and more. Fascinating information too. Thanks for that.<\/p>\n
I look forward to hearing from you again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nHi Ron, Let\u2019s address question #2<\/p>\n
You stated:\u201d2. Obviously you\u2019re a truly dedicated falconer. \u201cBird worship\u201d is your \u201clifestyle\u201d. As you said, your \u201centire life\u201d revolves around your bird. If all falconers were like you describe yourself, many of my concerns would be alleviated. But as I\u2019m sure you know, many of them are not. The falconer who apparently owned the peregrine in this post is a case in point. A few days ago I got an email from another falconer telling me that he\u2019s \u201csure who owned that bird, but he can\u2019t prove it\u201d. The \u201cowner\u201d had the bird for 9 weeks but it was very wild and difficult to train. Finally, with help from others, they \u201cgot the bird manned down, free flying to the lure and it killed it\u2019s first pigeon\u201d. But at the end of all that, the \u201cowner\u201d said he \u201cdidn\u2019t like the bird\u201d and was going to \u201cget rid of it\u201d. Two months later, when asked about the bird, he said he did \u201cget rid of it\u201d. My point; even though I\u2019m glad this peregrine is now on its own, this particular falconer doesn\u2019t sound to me like an icon of falconry virtues. And I\u2019m afraid there are too many others out there like him. So FINALLY, my question \u2013 Do you agree that there\u2019s a significant segment of the falconry community that do a disservice to the sport, and to the birds?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wow! Where to start? Let me begin by saying that any group will have a few bad apples. Bad falconers\u00a0are a significant problem in other parts of the world, but are pleasingly rare in North America. I have practiced falconry in Russia, Germany, and have read extensively about falconry in other parts of the world. Nowhere is the standard higher than in the US. We fly better birds that live longer and take more game than anywhere else I know of, and we do far more to promote the general well being of our wild stocks.<\/p>\n
The answer to your question boils down to the definition of the word \u201csignificant\u201d. The simple answer is no. Birds of prey bite; they have bad attitudes; they puncture with their talons; they never really become tame; they are expensive to procure (regardless of whether you buy them or trap your own). They take a lot of time and maintenance year round. You can\u2019t just hang them up on the wall like a shotgun and ignore them until the next hunting season. Unfortunately, you will always find a few that do not uphold the high standards of North American falconry, or just want a cool pet. They generally don\u2019t last very long. If they don\u2019t have the will or drive (my wife says \u201cgenetic defect\u201d) to commit to falconry for the long haul, they fade away pretty quickly.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk a minute about the Peregrine in the picture. Something doesn\u2019t add up. Peregrines, Gyrs, Harris\u2019 Hawks, and Goshawks taken from the wild must be banded with a Federal ID marker. Each state can add more birds to this list, but these four are required by the Feds. This marker looks like a black plastic zip tie with a serial number on it. In addition, all captive bred birds must have a permanent metal seamless band applied when they are chicks. I don\u2019t see any band on this bird, so it is obviously not a captive bred bird. It\u2019s possible that this is a wild caught bird that chewed its plastic federal band off, but I doubt it. The bird in the picture is at least two years old, and probably three based on its coloration. If it was legally caught from the wild, it was caught several years ago.<\/p>\n
None of this adds up with the bird in the picture. I suspect that someone (not a legal falconer) caught an adult bird and tried to train it. He got a firsthand lesson on why we NEVER take adult birds!<\/p>\n
If he intentionally released it, why didn\u2019t he remove the anklets?<\/p>\n
Nothing about this \u201cfalconer\u201d or his behavior adds up to a legal, permitted falconer operating within the rules and laws of the US. Holding him out to be an example of falconry and falconers, is like holding out an ivory poacher as an example of hunters in general. If you would like to share this person\u2019s name and contact information with me, I would be more than happy to request a federal investigation into his behavior. This is NOT falconry.<\/p>\n
I wish I lived closer. I would offer to gently trap this Peregrine and remove her anklets. Perhaps there is a local falconer in your area willing to do so.<\/p>\n
Two down and two to go!<\/p>\n
More later.<\/p>\n
Mark<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My Response:<\/strong><\/p>\nMark, Sorry for the delayed reply. I first read this as an email and then (for some strange reason) thought I had replied to it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m glad to know that you don\u2019t think the number of \u201crogue\u201d falconers is significant. And your explanation as to why is convincing.<\/p>\n
I took many photos of that peregrine and I don\u2019t see either the Federal ID marker or the metal seamless band in any of them \u2013 only the leather anklets.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know the name of the \u201cfalconer\u201d \u2013 the person who emailed me about him didn\u2019t share it.<\/p>\n
Thanks again for all this valuable information!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nOops. I skipped #3, Let me go back.<\/p>\n
You asked \u201c3. I\u2019m a biologist\u2026and largely I wouldn\u2019t dispute your conclusions as far as you\u2019ve taken them but it seems to me that there\u2019s more to the story. One (just one) example \u2013 I\u2019ve heard reliable accounts of falconers\u00a0using bush planes in Alaska to search Gyrfalcon habitat for the prized white morph of the species so they can be taken from the wild. Think about the effect that removing a non-representative portion of the white morphs would have on the gene pool \u2013 reducing, or potentially eliminating that color phase. Any thoughts?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a problem that is unique to Gyrs. They naturally occur worldwide from solid black to pure white with the North American birds usually somewhere in the middle referred to as \u201cSilver\u201d. The most desirable ones are the ones on the white end of the scale. These are found in relatively large numbers in Iceland, Greenland, and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia where they are the dominant (only?) phase. The white birds do occasionally wander into Alaska and Canada, but they are not common. There are even reports of one being caught in Oklahoma many years ago, but most of the wild birds are silver in North America.<\/p>\n
For purposes of this discussion, let\u2019s set aside illegally taken, or smuggled birds. This does happen in other parts of the world, but despite popular belief to the contrary, it simply doesn\u2019t happen here. There has not been a single proven case of wild Gyrs (or any other bird) stolen from the wild for the purpose of smuggling it out of the country in well over 20 years. It just doesn\u2019t happen in North America. The laws are too strict, the penalties are too high, and captive bred birds are too easily available.<\/p>\n
I too have heard stories of guys renting planes and looking for Gyr\u00a0nests, but these stories dated back to the 1970s. I am certainly not saying that it isn\u2019t going on now, but it does seem less likely. The difference today is that we are simply too good at breeding Gyrs\u00a0in captivity. They breed like chickens! We bred\u00a0so many Sakers\u00a0(a close relative of the Gyr) in Russia, that we wound up letting over half of them go because we couldn\u2019t export them at the time, and ran out of people to sell them to. I can open my internet connection and, assuming that I have the right permits, buy young white Gyrs\u00a0for $2,000 to $4,000 each, and can buy as many as I want or need (or can afford). That is still a lot of money, but the demand is for breeders to legally serve the Arab market. I am not sure what the cost would be to fly to Alaska and rent a bush plane for days or weeks on the slim hopes of finding a Gyr nest period, let alone a white one, but I would think that the odds would be better, and the cost lower, to simply buy captive bred birds. In addition, by buying domestically bred birds, you can selectively choose exactly the genes you want, some with pedigrees going back 10-15 generations. Wild birds are always a genetic gamble.<\/p>\n
All this assuming that you could even get the permits to legally take wild Gyrs. The last I heard, the State of Alaska only allowed resident take, and the quota was severely limited.<\/p>\n
I am not aware of any recent significant pressure on the wild stocks of white Gyrs. The take of them in North America is severely regulated. There are tons of them in Russia, Iceland, and Greenland, but importing them is expensive and difficult. It is much easier and less expensive simply to buy breeders from proven bloodlines that are domestically raised.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My Response:<\/strong><\/p>\nThanks Mark. I\u2019m much relieved to hear that this apparently is not a significant problem.<\/p>\n
\u201d We bred\u00a0so many Sakers\u00a0(a close relative of the Gyr) in Russia, that we wound up letting over half of them go because we couldn\u2019t export them at the time, and ran out of people to sell them to\u201d<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t the Saker an Asian and East European species not native to North America? I assume (hope) that when these birds were released, it was in Russia and not here. When you said \u201cwe\u201d I wasn\u2019t clear on where they were released.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nSorry, I thought that was clear. I lived in Russia in 2008 and had a great friend that worked in a falconry center near Ekaterinburg. We bred so many Sakers that we couldn\u2019t sell them all, or even give them all away. The point was that like Sakers, Gyrs breed easily in captivity and there are good numbers of them available through North American breeding projects. This reduces the need to capture wild Gyrs for breeding stock. With regards to the Sakers, they were indigenous to that area so releasing them there was not an issue.<\/p>\n
Thanks,<\/p>\n
Mark<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nOn to question #4<\/p>\n
You asked:\u201d4. You mention \u201cmodern breeding techniques\u201d. One of those techniques is to artificially produce hybrids \u2013 unnatural crosses between different species of falcons. I know it\u2019s illegal to release them into the wild, but \u201cstuff happens\u201d, as we\u2019ve discussed. Do you see any problem with this practice? As a biologist, I certainly do.\u201d<\/p>\n
On this one I agree with you. It used to be that hybrids had to be fully imprinted on humans, or surgically sterilized. I wish that the Feds had not dropped that requirement.<\/p>\n
I would guess that 60% of the hybrids flown in falconry are hard imprints. These are of no real concern as they will never pollute the breeding stock. They will live out their lives in the wild, but will only \u201cbreed\u201d with humans. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the remaining 40%.<\/p>\n
Telemetry has greatly reduced the number of accidental losses, but there are still a few. Falconers are required to fly hybrids with two transmitters, which helps to reduce the losses due to failed transmitters.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have a solution for this issue.<\/p>\n
There are lots of well documented natural hybrids, especially between Gyrs\u00a0and Sakers\u00a0in Asia, and Prairies and Peregrines in the US, but this is no excuse for contaminating the natural breeding stock.<\/p>\n
Hybrid falcons are excellent falconry birds, but we need to find a way to keep them available for falconry, but to protect the wild breeding population. Requiring hybrids to be hard imprints, or surgically sterilized in no way reduced their value as falconry birds, but was an effective protection against introducing hybrid genes into the natural gene pool.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nOn to #5\u2026<\/p>\n
You asked: \u201c5. You say that you love \u201cdrastically improving their quality of life\u201d. I\u2019m unconvinced that you improve their life quality. In my judgement, a full stomach and being relatively free of parasites does not balance out a life in captivity and tolerating hoods and jesses for a freedom loving bird. Prison inmates get plenty to eat and medical care but would much rather be elsewhere. Seems to me that just because a bird has been deeply conditioned by training to return to the handler after a flight doesn\u2019t mean that doing so is the best thing for the bird or that it\u2019s really what it \u201cwants\u201d to do. You say that it\u2019s \u201cstrictly up to her\u201d if Jet chooses to return home with you or go on her way after a flight. Don\u2019t you think that after all the conditioning she\u2019s been through that it\u2019s a more complicated equation than that?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a tough one because it is based on human emotion applied to a non-human creature. While you are a biologist, and therefore a scientist, you also used the term \u201cfreedom loving bird\u201d. As a biologist and a scientist, you know that birds are not capable of an emotion such as \u201cfreedom loving\u201d. That is a human trait. We assume that because WE would like to be able to soar over the mountains\u2026 and WE would like to be capable of flight, that the bird must feel the same way. This type of anthropomorphism makes is difficult to have a non-emotional conversation.<\/p>\n
I had a lady knock on my door once and threaten to call the SPCA on me for \u201c\u2026keeping that wild bird from being free\u201d. I told her that I saw her point and invited her to go with me to release the bird. She told me \u201c\u2026.you are a good person after all\u201d. We went to the mews\u00a0and took out my Red Tail hawk. I pulled his jesses and launched him into the sky. He made a large circle around the yard and\u2026\u2026\u2026went right back into his mews. I explained to the lady that if the hawk could lock the door behind him, he would. He had food, shelter and protection. The only thing I asked in return is what he was genetically programmed to do anyway\u2026.hunt. She left a little bewildered, but understood more than when she came.<\/p>\n
Like all birds, falconry or otherwise, Jet has basic needs. She needs food and water; she needs medical care (although she probably doesn\u2019t know it); she needs a place to get out of bad weather; and she needs protection from predators. She does not love freedom, or soaring, or any of the things that we would love about being a bird. I provide her with all of these things plus, I make it easier for her to hunt.<\/p>\n
You speak of \u201c\u2026deeply conditioned\u201d. After living with me for a year now, I can accept the Jet is deeply conditioned, but when you see a wild bird being trained, you begin to realize that there is much more to it than that (or maybe much less would be the appropriate term). We don\u2019t really train them, we simply have to convince them that we are not going to eat them (manning). I can catch a wild, immature Red Tail and spend a day or two manning it, and then fly it free on the fourth or fifth day. At this point, they haven\u2019t been captive long enough to be deeply conditioned, and yet they (usually!) come back with us when the hunt is over. Once they figure out that we are not going to hurt them, we are going to move rabbits for them, and we are going to protect them from predators; the rest is just an extension of the bird\u2019s nature. It is natural for Red Tails to follow a tractor plowing a field because it makes the rats run, this is very little difference. The bird chooses to stay with us because we make life easy for them. As soon as we fail to make life easy, they are gone!<\/p>\n
You mentioned \u201c\u2026tolerating hoods and jesses\u201d. Jesses\u00a0are there to control the bird and keep it safe, but you may have somewhat of a point with jesses. The hood, however, is a different matter. Jet loves her hood. Remember that there isn\u2019t much brain behind those eyes, and almost all of it is dedicated to visual input. She has no sense of smell, very little sense of taste, and fair hearing, but as a biologist you know that the vast majority of her brain is dedicated to her sense of vision. When that hood goes on, everything around her that she might have had to worry about disappears. She doesn\u2019t know enough to ask where it went, she just knows that it is gone. This is clearly evident as, once she is hooded, she fluffs\u00a0up her feathers, preens, and tucks her head under her wing and goes to sleep. The hood is not uncomfortable or inconvenient for her in any way.<\/p>\n
I lost Jet for two days last year. She followed a flock of ducks over the horizon and we got separated. Two days later, I found her over 90 miles away, sitting in a tree. I am not sure what happened while she was gone, but she had two broken feathers, a bad scrape on the inside of her leg, and based on her weight, she had eaten something, but not enough, in two days. Life in the wild is cruel and unforgiving! When I found her, she came to me eagerly, ate the food I had brought for her, and promptly tucked one leg up and went to sleep on the way home. It is impossible to know what is really going on in that little head, but I had the distinct impression she was glad to be back where she \u201cbelonged\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: I doubt I have changed your (or anyone else\u2019s) mind. It is simply too emotional an issue. Please accept that as falconers, we are absolutely not doing the birds any harm, we are doing everything possible to make their lives more comfortable and pleasant, and for whatever reason it happens, they are released into complete freedom almost every day and make a conscious decision to come back.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My Response:<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWhile you are a biologist, and therefore a scientist, you also used the term \u201cfreedom loving bird\u201d. As a biologist and a scientist, you know that birds are not capable of an emotion such as \u201cfreedom loving\u201d. That is a human trait\u201d \u201cThis type of anthropomorphism makes it difficult to have a non-emotional conversation\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark, I\u2019m very aware of the potential pitfalls of anthropomorphism. That possiblilty crossed my mind as I was about to use the phrase \u201cfreedom loving bird\u201d but I still chose to go with it to get my point across to a broader audience since others read this too. We all do it, including you. In this very same comment, you make the statement that your falcon Jet \u201cloves her hood\u201d. So, I have to ask \u2013 if she can\u2019t be a freedom loving bird, how can she love her hood? And how could she be \u201cglad\u201d to be back to where she belonged after she left you for a few days? Sorry Mark, couldn\u2019t resist\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bird chooses to stay with us because we make life easy for them. As soon as we fail to make life easy, they are gone!\u201d<\/p>\n
I have serious doubts about the wisdom of \u201cmaking life easy\u201d for raptors or any other wild species. Interference with natural selection can\u2019t be a good thing for the species in the long run.<\/p>\n
\u201cBottom line: I doubt I have changed your (or anyone else\u2019s) mind. It is simply too emotional an issue\u201d<\/p>\n
Actually, Mark \u2013 what you\u2019ve said in these comments might not have changed my mind but that\u2019s because it wasn\u2019t set in the first place. I wanted reliable input before making some decisions about how I felt about falconry. You\u2019ve been providing that and have relieved many of my concerns to some degree, some more and some less. But overall, I\u2019m feeling significantly better about falconry, thanks to your efforts to enlighten me (and others). Thanks for that, big time!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On Oct 24, Mark Runnels wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\nFinally! The last question (sorry this has taken me so long) :<\/p>\n
You asked: \u201cOne final question. In another post (link below) another falconer claimed that \u201cwild birds are generally released that following spring to go back into the breeding population\u201d. I asked him to please document that claim because I\u2019m skeptical that they\u2019re \u201cgenerally\u201d (meaning more often than not) released after the first year but I\u2019ve never had a response from him. It is my guess that it\u2019s much less often than \u201cgenerally\u201d. Do you have any info on that? I\u2019d really like to know\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is an easy one. The answer is a resounding yes. Far more wild caught birds are released at the end of the season rather than keeping them over the molt. It isn\u2019t even close.<\/p>\n
Obviously, we are only talking about wild caught, passage birds. I would guess that 75% of the birds flown today in falconry are captive bred. All types of falcons, hybrids, and Harris\u2019 Hawks are bred in large numbers for falconry. Most of the wild birds that are caught are by apprentice falconers\u00a0who are limited to wild caught Red Tails and, to a lesser extent, Kestrels. A few of us older falconers prefer wild caught birds, but we are the rare exception.<\/p>\n
The most common bird taken from the wild by far is the Red Tail hawk. Probably 100:1 compared with any other bird of prey. We are blessed with large numbers of this unique Buteo. It is easy to trap, trains easily, and is one of the most capable hunting hawks in the world. My son and daughter are both apprentice falconers\u00a0and currently each have immature Red Tails. I have known a few people that keep them over the molt, but very few. It is a lot of work to keep a bird over the molt, and requires a serious commitment of time at a time of year where people want to travel, fish, etc. Most people opt for releasing their Red Tails at the end of the season and trapping a new one the next year. This is really too bad as there are few birds more beautiful than a fully mature Red Tail hawk, and they get better and better at hunting every year.<\/p>\n
There are some people that trap and fly wild Prairie falcons, Cooper\u2019s hawks, etc. but they are very few and again there is very little incentive to keep them over the summer either. They are too common, and it is too easy to simply trap another.<\/p>\n
Peregrines\u00a0are a little different story. The only sub-species that we are allowed to take are the Tundra Peregrines\u00a0(which have never been endangered) and they have a huge drawback. Due to their highly migratory nature, they do not begin molting until mid July, and are not ready to fly the second season until well into December. I know! I am chomping at the bit to get training, but Jet still has one primary on each wing to molt out! Most of my friends are already hunting and I am waiting for two more feathers to molt! Due to this inconvenient molting pattern, most people do not keep Tundra Peregrines over the molt. If Jet had not been such an exceptional bird, I probably wouldn\u2019t have kept her over the molt either.<\/p>\n
In summary, there are only a few of us that prefer wild caught birds, and even fewer still that keep them over the molt. The Feds could provide you with hard data as we have to report every capture, transfer, loss, and release, but my estimation would be that somewhere around 5-10% of the wild caught falconry birds are kept for more than one season. As much as I would like to say that this was for altruistic reasons, the fact is that it is simply easier to release them and catch another the next year.<\/p>\n
Thank you for the opportunity to address some of your questions about falconry. We are a very diverse group with falconers at each end of the conservation spectrum. I don\u2019t presume to speak for anyone but myself, but I hope to impress upon you that falconry is a way of life; it is a great deal of work and effort; and that the vast majority of us are fanatics about the care and welfare of both our birds and the wild breeding stock in North America.<\/p>\n
If I can ever answer another question for you, please do not hesitate to ask. I will answer as honestly as possible.<\/p>\n
And if you ever find yourself in Northeast Oklahoma, please look me up. I will introduce you to \u201cbirdwatching\u201d on a scale that most birders can only dream of!<\/p>\n
Respectfully,<\/p>\n
J. Mark Runnels, PE Bartlesville OK<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My Response:<\/strong><\/p>\nI\u2019m much relieved by what you\u2019ve said here Mark \u2013 knowing that the majority of wild caught birds are kept for less than a year is a vast improvement on what my assumption was. And your treatise on the various species of falconry birds (here and in a previous comment) has been fascinating and enlightening.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very much appreciative of your extensive efforts to answer my questions. Personally, many (though not all) of my concerns about falconry have been significantly reduced and I now have more confidence that my opinions on the subject are well informed.<\/p>\n
Thank you very much. Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As some of you will remember, I’ve recently made two posts calling into question some of the ethics of the “sport” (some don’t like\u00a0that term) of falconry. This was the bird that prompted my most recent post – an “escaped” female\u00a0Peregrine Falcon that I\u00a0photographed along the Antelope Island causeway a few weeks ago.\u00a0 You’ll notice that she still has her leather falconry anklets above her feet (only one can be seen in this photo). And last year, this escaped\u00a0male American\u00a0Kestrel was loose near Farmington Bay WMA and it still had\u00a0not only its anklets but its jesses.\u00a0 The extreme danger to the bird of having those long, dangling jesses engangle and kill the kestrel\u00a0is obvious. In both posts I questioned the ethics of falconry in general, but admitting my relative ignorance of the subject I asked (on the second post) for more information from my readers to “enlighten” me on the subject. For those who haven’t seen those posts and have the interest, here’s the links: Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon Escaped Falconry Bird – Peregrine Falcon, Again Mark Runnels, a master falconer from Oklahoma, responded to the second post\u00a0with a series of very detailed, knowledgeable and thoughtful comments on falconry – responding to each of my concerns dispassionately and eloquently. However, that post was made on September 17 and Mark didn’t begin to comment until October 23, which means that his valuable information likely went under the radar for most of my readers (very few folks come back to a…<\/p>\n
Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[340,334,16,1004,582],"tags":[28,850,935,932,934,107,126,847,136,930,928,931,926,933,849,924,541,451,927,929,936,925],"class_list":["post-8691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-kestrels","category-birds","category-photography-ethics","category-falconry-2","category-peregrine-falcons","tag-american-kestrel","tag-anklets","tag-anthropomorphism","tag-band","tag-conditioned","tag-diet","tag-ethics","tag-falconry","tag-feeding","tag-goshawk","tag-gyrfalcon","tag-harris-hawk","tag-hybrid-falcon","tag-imprints","tag-jesses","tag-master-falconer","tag-peregrine-falcon","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-regulations","tag-saker-falcon","tag-tundra-peregrine","tag-wild-caught"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-2gb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"peregrine](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/peregrine-falcon-0409-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"peregrine")
<\/p>\n![\"american](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/american-kestrel-7166-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american")
<\/p>\n