Falconry Comes to Grier School

Yes, I am a PA Licensed falconer.  I served an apprenticeship about 6 years ago for 2 years under a master falconer In Williamsport, PA, as part of the licensure process, after passing the state-run federally mandated exam (that’s a mouthful!). It is illegal for a non-falconer to possess a raptor.

My hawk this year is an immature Cooper’s Hawk.  US falconers trap juvenile hawks and falcons, train them to hunt with them, and then release them after a season or two, generally speaking.  

We only trap juvenile birds in the fall of their first year because, in the wild, the mortality rate for a hawk during its first winter is approximately 80% (it’s kind of astonishing to think that 8 out of 10 hawks, more or less, will die within about 6 months from hatching).  

I’ve been training this hawk fairly slowly.  I have trained and hunted with Redtails and Kestrels.  

Cooper’s hawks, like all accipiters, are very, very different from those species, so I’m moving slowly with him lest I make a mistake!  I’ll keep him through his summer moult, to make sure that he has a strong new set of tail feathers fully grown before I release him.

I am training this Cooper’s hawk to hunt pigeons, as pigeons are an invasive breed in North America.  

He’s managed to catch one pigeon with me, and so I’ve given him a name (it’s a PA falconry tradition not to name a falconry bird until they have managed to catch something).  I named him George III, because, like the 18th-century English king, he’s a little bit crazy.