25 years ago! My first outside job was as a trainee Falconer at a local center.
(I then worked for others and then finally ran my own falconry service, owning over 16 birds of prey on the Isle of Skye)
My job was to help clean, train, handle, fly birds and talk to the public about them.
I handled Hawks, Owls, Falcons, Eagles, Vultures and one naughty Raven.
Training birds of prey isn’t much different from training dogs. You start slowly build trust, feed them on the fist, they fly to you for food.
But unlike dogs the mind set around training them is different because if anything goes wrong in the training process the falconers (on the most part) know its on them.
They Don’t correct a bird. How would you anyway?
If you don’t feed a owl on one flight the chances of them coming on recall for the next flight is slim.
If you rush a falcon and handle them hard – they just want to get away from you and they will not settle.
If an eagle doesn’t do what you want them too – you don’t shout at them, yank on them or not feed them. You re-look at your training stages and go back a few and try again another day.
We do spend a lot of quality time together and sometimes just sitting (a practice called Manning)
We do feed them on the fist and by hand. They are also weighed everyday to make sure they will want to fly. Too heavy and they are fed up and wont bother moving, too low and they also will conserve energy. So you need to make sure they are at fit weight which means calculating their food carefully. Feed them their favorite and they might take to you more!
But being a falconer means building a mutual respect between you and bird. Taking your time and not being impatient. Having good handling skills and know what conditions will make your bird thrive. Falconry is an art that hasn’t changed for hundreds and hundreds years but it survives because the practice is sound and in the best interest of the birds as they come first.
Dogs deserve the same treatment. So how do you train an Eagle like a Labrador? – take and make the time, be patient, build trust, build a bond and a mutual respect for each others needs and wants.
Go through the training stage by stage, and you will become a dream team.
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