Alaska Raptor Center Steeped in Falconry Tradition

If you’ve been to the Alaska Raptor Center you’ve likely seen Volta or one of the other star raptors on a glove center stage with a curator.  This favorite part of our onsite educational programming requires many long hours of training to build rapport, trust and communication between bird and curator.

This training, sometimes called falconry, has been happening for thousands of years around the world.  Here’s a quick history of falconry.

The history of interaction between people and raptors spans more than 8,000 years. In the lands that now comprise Iran, the Persian king Tahmooreth trained birds of prey for hunting, and the first complete book about falconry was commissioned in the 12^th Century in the same region. Archeological digs in Egypt have documented that the ancient Egyptians were likely to have been the first people to keep and breed birds of prey.

By 1,000 BC, the Khans of Mongolia practiced falconry flying Berkut Eagles (very large golden eagles) in pursuit of a variety of prey, including tigers. During this time, falconry enjoyed great popularity both culturally and politically throughout China and many of today’s falconry techniques and practices can be traced backed to this region. Attila the Hun incorporated the image of a Goshawk in the military insignia of his army (434-453 AD). While birds of prey were often integrated in works of art in Japan, the Japanese developed falconry late compared to other advanced civilizations in this part of the world principally due to its relative isolation. The first written documentation of falconry in Japan occurs around 355 AD.

Of course, most people associate falconry with the “sport of kings” found in various Old World dynasties throughout Western Europe. The rise of falconry was often influenced by trade in the birds and the exchange of culture between Europe and Eastern merchants from Asia and Arab countries, rather than the quest of sport. Much of the early history of falconry in Europe surrounds the birds’ symbol for power and importance, as well as their value in trade. The Vikings in the 10^th Century entombed birds of prey with important leaders and utilized the birds as currency for land purchases. Both Iceland and Norway exported many goshawks and falcons as gifts to important allies throughout Europe and Africa during the 8^th Century.

In the New World, one of Cortez’s captains practiced falconry in the Valley of Mexico during the 16^th Century Spanish conquest.  Although falconry slid out of favor in Spain during the colonization period of Latin American, many of the New World elite continued to practice falconry as part of their “noble” heritage.

Falconry had little success finding practitioners in the United States until after World War II, and there are only a few references to birds of prey and falconry in various chronicles from New England and the Hudson Valley immigrants who previously had kept birds in Europe.  It wasn’t until the early 1940s did an organized interest appear when several American conservationists, including Frank and John Craighead, formed the Falconer’s Association of North America, although the organization dissolved with the beginning of the War.

Falconry, as a form of hunting, finally caught hold in the US in the 1960s when the North American Falconers Association (NAFA) was established. Prior to this time falconry concerned itself with the keeping of birds in captivity, rather than actively chasing prey. After the creation of NAFA, the hunting aspect of falconry was largely carried out by falconers with Red-tailed Hawks.  Even today, centuries after Europeans created the tradition, a variety of falcons are exchanged between international heads of state in the name of “feather diplomacy.”

Today in the US, falconry is a highly-regulated activity that requires serious dedication and extensive training. The range of raptor species used for the sport includes many of the traditional birds such as Peregrines, Kestrels, Goshawks and Red-tails, as well as relative newcomers like the Prairie Falcon and Harris Hawk.

We are proud to carry on this tradition of training raptors in a way that helps educate our visitors about Alaska’s wild birds and the habitats in which they live.

If you would like to read more articles like this, become a member of the Alaska Raptor Center and receive our quarterly newsletter.