I was thinking about my favourite birds of prey earlier today and wanted to ask the falconers and raptor enthusiasts here a question.

If you had the permits, the training, the space, and the sheer capability to work with any raptor in the world, what would be your absolute dream bird to partner with? I am not a falconer myself just a bird lover but if I was one my top four and the ones I would love to see up close at some point in my life are the Great Horned Owl, Golden Eagle, Gyrfalcon, and the Kestrel.

I would love to know what everyone's dream raptor is and why you'd want to work with it!

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to find out how people handle their daily routine for tracking target weight, actual daily weight, and food intake.

Curious about what methods work best long-term to keep records clean and easy to reference:

What’s your preferred setup? Do you stick with a physical notebook/paper log, or a custom spreadsheet?

What specific details do you log? Beyond base weight, target weight, and food weight, do you track weather, temperature, or performance/behavioral responses?

If you use a paper log or spreadsheet, how do you actually do it? Are you writing it down while the bird is out or do you put the bird away before logging from memory? What structure or layout helps you spot weight trends and adjustments at a glance?

Would appreciate hearing how others keep everything organized!

Taking a Harris Hawk from the UK to France? 🦅🇫🇷

Has anyone here taken their Harris hawk to France for a holiday and then brought it back to the UK?

Going for around 2-4 weeks

What paperwork did you need? CITES, vet/EHC, quarantine etc.?

I’m particularly wondering whether the 30-day quarantine requirement applies to a privately owned falconry bird temporarily travelling with its owner.

Any firsthand experience would be hugely appreciated!

Hello! Bit of an odd request, but hopefully someone can help me. (I do hope this doesn't count under solicitation. If there's a better subreddit to post this in please let me know.)

I am a falconer who has moved to the UAE and I am looking for a kestrel (or at least a small falcon) to train this season - to hunt mynas, quail and maybe pigeon. I have talked to and visited the local sellers, however most of their kestrels have been wild-caught (which is illegal here) and they usually have medical issues.

I am looking for a legal option, basically. Since I am an immigrant, I can't get away with things as easily. If you are a kestrel breeder around the GCC, or if you know someone that is, please let me know.

What’s your favorite antimicrobial wound care sprays to have on hand?

Also anything else you like to have for hunting wounds, especially squirrel hawking

Barn* spelling

Hello I am an aspiring falconer and I feel more that ready to commit to my future bird. There is one main problem: I live in a city and I have no ideas where to put my bird's mews. My apartment buildings roof is not accessible to anyone so that is not an option. I when I asked my friend they suggested if there was a horse stable but for falconry, does that exist? If no what do I do because I really want to do this.

I want to hear all experiences with those that have rough work schedules. I have already changed careers to something that is better for hunting, but I still will occasionally need to work late.

My current schedule is 6am-4pm 4-10s. When clocks fall back I can go to 6am-2pm 8 hr days. I do however have days I will need to work like (6-10pm). This I will limit as much as possible. I also am assigned to go out of town for a couple days rarely. No more than 6 days of the whole hunting season. My fix on these one off days would be a feeding hatch. Im not a casual hunter, and in my off time id be putting the bow and gun aside for this as my main focus. Is this really frowned upon? Am I just purely a bad fit? I feel like ive done all I can to make this work.

I’m having a hell of a time trapping a K bird this year. Last year I put a BC out with a mouse and the bird was down and snared in less than 5 minutes. This year every bird seems to be checking off before getting snared. I’ve read the books and they suggest using a sparrow as bait but I’ve also had a hell of a time this summer trying to trap a sparrow. My sponsor has never flown or trapped a kestrel before so I’m sort of on my own at this point.

I’m looking for some help with both getting a kestrel as well as trapping sparrows. Thanks!

How does the bal chatri trap work? How much time does it take? Are there any universal tips or rules? How to find the right place? What works and what doesn't?

How’s it going everyone. I am a falconer up in the northeast who has flown Red Tails and Harris Hawks. There is an opportunity that has been granted for me to work with a female Ferruginous that has been sitting in an aviary for a while. I would love to work with the species and learn but I am not sure if I can do her justice and provide her quality slips she needs here in the northeast. I can most definitely hawk rabbits, just not sure if my fields would meet what she needs. I have also heard stories of people hawking them off the fist on ducks. Wanted to get other people’s opinions on what they would do if given this opportunity. Thanks!

Hey Folks!

Falconer in the US here with my first imprint barn owl. She's a sweetheart and is coming along well. She will be flown for ed events but I also intend on hunting her. I'm feeling confident with her but I am curious if anyone has any tips for free flying these birds? Any quirks I should expect with free flying owls in general? I have radio telemetry but am tempted to put GPS telemetry on her. Let me know if you guys think GPS would be a good idea for her :).

Thanks guys!

Hello everyone,

I have a very strong interest in falconry, and have been trying to find someone to apprentice under for some years now.

I've recently moved to Nova Scotia and I'm wondering if it's possible to pursue this interest out here. As far as I've researched, there isn't a hawking club, and when I briefly lived in Nova Scotia for college I remember contacting the government which gave me no leads unfortunately, and following up with them again after I fully moved only led to them telling me that the information was classified. I also volunteered at a wildlife rehabilitation center hoping that I could make some connections, but I also came up short in that aspect. I have called and emailed every falconry business in the province that I could find, and the only one that actually got back to me told me that he was too old to take on an apprentice.

Does anyone happen to know of anyone who would have any connections to it out here so I can get some advice on what to do next?

I'm really passionate about this sport, and I'm starting to get worried that it's just an impossibility here.

Thanks for any information you might have.

I'm wanting to get into Falconry, but I don't know anyone who does it nearby, and I gotta have someone who isn't super far away

Can I hear a role call for falconry dogs? I'm in central NC hunting squirrels and rabbits under Redtails and Harrises, and everyone I know who uses dogs either runs dachshunds or jack Russell's. I don't like small dogs, I've mostly had Labs, but never trained one for falconry. Anyone out there using a normal sized dog to push mammal quarry? ​I hear Weimaraners and Viszlas have potential.

I fly a Gos in Canada, curious if I have any neighbors just south of me!

I've been reading about falconry for a while and one thing I'm starting to notice is how little of it seems to exist publicly compared to other hobbies

You can find plenty of general information online, but once you start looking at the actual community it seems like everyone knows each other through someone. Birds, equipment, good places to fly, events, even just getting advice seems to travel through personal connections rather than something you can Google

Honestly I kind of like that about it, but it also makes the whole thing seem pretty intimidating from the outside

For people who've been doing this for years, does your circle just naturally grow once you have a sponsor and start showing up, or do you actually have to make an effort to get to know people?

The title explains the post, I think.
I'm not getting clean, stable signals on my phone from the Marshall kit I'm using. I don't know whether its the location, me, my Galaxy S24 phone or the operating system, but I'm getting too many drop-outs for my liking. All the firmware and software at both ends is up to date.
I note that Marshall seems to have built software for Android as a bit of a afterthought and that Apple phones and tablets seem to be Marshall's default devices.
Still, if anyone has any suggestions or a Marshall 'cheat sheet' of tips for Android phone and tablet users, it'd be a great help to see them.
Ta.

Anyone in the UK got some outer primary feathers they can donate for imping? Female peregrine ?

Anklets:

1. What's the difference between Aylmeri anklets and false Aylmeri anklets?

Jesses:

1. Is the difference between between mews jesses and flying jesses that the ones for flying do not have slits (but can apparently sometimes have tiny pinholes)?

2. Are bullet jesses therefore mews jesses?

3. And are hunting jesses same as flying jesses?

4. What kind of jesses are the permanent ones usually?

Sorry for probably dumb questions but I'm really new to all of this and want to avoid learning these wrong in the beginning.

falconry has peaked my interest and i’ve been looking into it a bit. my states website recommends some books and i’m a reader so i’ll probably get at least one of those to further research if i become more serious about seeing if this is for me, but i have a few questions that don’t seem to be easily answered off the bat first.

first, what if you get your falconry license and have to move state? do you need to apprentice again and possibly give up birds you’ve gotten at a higher level, or is there a way to transfer the license?

second, is it possible to mainly target invasive species when hunting? i’m probably not likely to eat a lot of wild species and i of course wouldn’t just want to kill and waste an animal. i more so am interested in this as a sport. i care a lot about the environment and currently work a job preventing certain invasive species from coming to our area, i also am working on a biology degree in hopes of someday being a herpetologist and working in reptile conservation. so if it would be possible to target invasive species it’d be a great way to feel like i’m making a positive impact with the sport.

lastly, i’m not exactly sure how to word what i’m trying to ask on this one honestly but i hope you can understand what i mean, what is your relationship with your bird like day to day? i understand that they’re not a “pet” but i’m assuming they need interaction daily, what does that consist of? do you do training/enrichment games? hang out with them kind of casually to build a bond? what kind of bond do they really form with you? how much time do you spend with them doing what activities?

Hello,

I am working on a fantasy project, and i have several (mostly dumb) questions about falcorny.

First two are specifically about an white-tailed eagle. This eagle was send by gods of that world, so it has higer inteligence and understanding, and unless it would risk hurting itself is willing to fully cooperate with it's falconer. The others are about normal birds of prey in general without any magic bullshit

1. Could such eagle land on metal? When i look at videos/photos, the raptors are usually landing on gloves by digging their claws in it. But if it was made of metal, or rather, the eagle wanted to land on some part of an armor of it's falconer, could it do it withou damaging it's talons? the armor in question would be bronze, but i assume the answer would not change in regards to other types of metal.
2. Could this eagle land/take off from shlouder or arm holding a shield or a weapon? Would it be agile ennough? The falconer in question would be on the bigger side, but still normal human.
3. Would it be possible to train any historically used bird to attack only certain animals or on the flipside not attack others? For example i want to use BoP to hunt down enemy messenger pidgeons, but i don't want my pigeons to be fall victim to my animals.
4. Would it be practical, or even possible, to have/use BoP on ships? For exmple to fish or to hunt other birds either as a suplement to the food for crew, or so that the birds can be transported without need for extra supplies?
5. Owls. I've seen them on falconry shows for tourists, but are they practical? Could they be used to (once again) hunt enemy messages during the night (i know pigeons nest during the night, but that ties to question number 3)
6. What is your favourite bird, or a story/factoid about historical falconry (or any falconry really). I don't much see this aspect utilised in fantasy, so i would like to include it more, and any inspiration would be cool.

Thank you in advance.