Falconry Displays

I have been fretting about the lack of House martins and swifts this year. Only having seen one House martin so far. It is a worry – I forlornly hope they are late back. It is almost the same for swifts although they are always the last to arrive.

Swinging back round to falconry Sprite our peregrine falcon excelled himself today and flew really well – wind was just perfect for him. After he had caught the lure I noticed him looking skywards – looking in the same direction I noticed a wild peregrine coming towards us – having been drawn in by a fellow member of the brethren stooping to the lure. The wild falcon got quite close and slowed right up to almost a standstill by dropping his legs – to act as an additional brake. He stayed around for about 10 minutes which was wonderful to see and slowly slid away to carry on hunting.

I mention this is my book ‘Falconry – aspects of care of the trained falcon and hawk’ where wild falcons can often be quite curious. I also say I have never had one join in and stoop to the lure! Most instances pass off without incident but the falconer must have the mindset to call the bird down – just in case.

Changing the subject. Earlier in the week I was asked  to help a friend with his Harris hawk. Apparently the bird – an adult female – had been scratching with its talon the underside of its beak – the chin and neck area – and had removed quite a lot of small feathers. The area also extended to the area above the beak and onto the head.

Harris hawks – again a topic in my book- can do some very odd things – including feather plucking.  This including the above can be included in the list of perplexing problems.

I coped its beak and feet and looked for mites while the bird was cast- another possibility – and then sprayed the bird with Johnsons anti mite spray for mites and other parasites.

It is important if this is a behavioural problem to change the management of the bird to jolt it out of its behaviour. To this end my friend has put the hawk back onto a bow perch and during the day it is brought out into the garden for a complete change of scenery and placed on a high ring perch. I also advised a change of diet in the sense that if you are feeding rats and quail you do not need a vitamin supplement and I would go as far to suggest to reduce the richness of the food when the bird is being rested and for a while feed only deyolked day old chicks. This can help to reduce the octane in the bird. Of course if a Harris hawk is in good feather there is no reason not to fly it all year round.

It is early days – too soon to say – lets hope it helps with a change of manage and spraying for parasites.

The next step would be a veterinary visit and have a scrape taken to check for a fungal condition or something else.

On a lighter note here is a picture of Sprite when I first got him in early 2015. He came from another falconer who had partially trained him. First year birds were called ‘red hawks’ by trappers in bygone days – you can see from his colouration why. Of course Sprite is a captive bred falcon