Falconry Displays

Well, it has been snowing today. I managed to get out with the dog. I have seen over the weekend a young buzzard of the year sitting on the ground in a ploughed field. It looks like it was trying to catch imaginary insects which suggested to me that something was not right. I looked on the plough and could see nothing.

Normally you would expect a bird to take to the air on sighting a human particularly with a dog. It seemed reluctant to fly. I left it where it was and returned in the afternoon for a second dog walk and it was in the same place. So, I took the dog back to the van and went back to investigate and it appeared to have gone. I was out today, and I saw this buzzard and it was flying strongly and landed close by in a tree. It is possible with the number of dog walkers it sees every day that this young bird has begun to habituate or ‘get used’ to the presence of man. I was pleased to see the buzzard and my initial fears for his welfare were allayed.

But some young buzzards are beginning to run out of steam at this time of the year as life begins to get difficult with the approach of winter. We picked up one that had almost made it through the winter in late February a few years ago. The weather had been very cold. I had had several reports from dog walkers that it had been seen in the same area – a small park bordering farmland -for several days. After a couple of attempts I managed to net the bird because he could no longer fly.

He (he was a male) was so weak that I had to hand feed him in the hawk room for a couple of days. When he was a little stronger, I put chopped up food on a saucer and gave it to him in a night quarter.  He soon got the idea. A couple of days later when he was clearly recovering, I put him into a spare loft away from my own birds.

I fed him up over the next six weeks – he was on 6 deyolked chicks per day – and with the weather improving, I decided to return him to the wild not far from where I had found him. I used a release box. I expected him to sort of limp out and disappear down wind. Instead, he rocketed out and flew powerfully into the breeze for about 200 yards and landed at the top of a large oak tree. He was soon joined by some wild buzzards who he clearly knew, and he went off with them calling and circling. You could not tell which one was him. I was delighted and confident that he would be all right. Had he been picked up in August – much earlier – it would have been more serious because he would be running into trouble when conditions were at least favourable for hunting.

Many years ago, in the 1970s I had just such a young buzzard given to me. I had him for three years and got him hunting before releasing him. Suffice to say getting a common or European buzzard hunting is very challenging. But with a lot of persistence, we got there.

Picture below shows me feeding him in the garden – Summer 1977.

I was still as school then and we had a lot of fun hawking with him particularly along the brook. Two years later I was a student, and on vacation I flew him for one final summer and with a catch of a rabbit towards the end I decided it was time to release him.

I chose a good spot with plenty of prey around and let him go. I went back the following day and saw him circling. In those days buzzards were not that common as they are now so one could assume it was him.

The more recent buzzard that was netted and picked up from the park required a period of recovery with plenty of food. He was fine in the loft which is not surprising initially due to a lack of energy.  Towards the end of his time with us when he had recovered much of his condition, he would spend his time looking out of the loft window. If he saw me coming down the path he would fly to the back of the loft where he could not be seen and felt secure. This without any crashing about.

I was very pleased that that the release went well but also because it vindicated my loft design that could be used even for a short stay wild bird. The loft or dual purpose ‘weathering loft’ is the central theme to my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ by Michael Davie.

Even today with both low day and night-time temperatures – we are having a cold patch with some snow – Jarvis my lanneret who is featured in the book and is now flying again after his moult has gone straight back into the loft. So, he can roost at height in a comfortable and protected spot above the frost line. It is so handy to have it available. I managed to get him out of the loft this morning – to be flown – without a problem which is very encouraging. That is the ultimate goal of the loft is that can be used for a bird in flying condition – but this is not possible for all birds. Although importantly it can still be used for rest periods when a bird is moulting, for bad weather or when the falconer is on holiday.