The appearance of gleaming steel and glass high-rise buildings in the Gulf emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai where only desert existed a few decades ago, coupled with a long tradition of breeding birds of prey, has made falcon-based pest control a thriving business, as building owners try to prevent pigeons from nesting and relieving themselves on their flawless facades.

“Pigeons are flying rats, they will come in and just nest,” said Richard Ellis, a falconer at Royal Shaheen Events.

“It is an ecological way to use falcons to control the populations of pigeons,” he said as he placed hoods over the birds’ heads as part of preparations to transport them to another pigeon-infested zone for a fresh hunt.

Royal Shaheen, a falconry enterprise based in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, makes up to half of its revenue from pest control on Sir Bani Yas island, a tourist destination where imported wild animals roam in a safari park.

Falcons, some able to dive at speeds over 320 km/h (200 mph), don’t kill the pigeons but are used to scare them away from public places.

But still, not everyone approves of using a bird that is so widely revered in the Gulf for such workmanlike purposes.

Centuries ago in the region, Bedouin tribesmen used falcons — “saqr” in Arabic — to hunt for meat in the winter, when the only food available were dates, camel milk and bread. It is the national symbol of the seven United Arab Emirates, featured on road signs and the national currency.

Emirati falconer Mohammed Salem al-Kabi, who keeps 17 falcons in the desert oasis town of Al Ain, said using falcons as pest controllers was a travesty for such a majestic bird, which also does not like this kind of work.

“There are more efficient ways such as pills to make pigeons drowsy or using ultrasound to chase them away,” Kabi said, gathered among his friends in an air-conditioned tent with a flat screen TV on the wall showing falcons hunting.

Around the world however, where many city squares such as the Piazza San Marco in Venice or Trafalgar Square in London are famous for their large pigeon populations, falcons have already been deployed to control unwanted birds.

“About 25 companies in Britain use falcons for pest control, and there are many all over the world, so clearly it works and is cost effective,” said Nick Fox, Director at International Wildlife Consultants Limited in Wales.

Fox said Britain’s Houses of Parliament and a stadium in Cardiff were also protected by trained hawks.

Falcons have also been used at the tennis courts of Wimbledon to keep the world championships pigeon-free, and in the past at New York’s JFK Airport to scare off gulls and geese from entering the airspace and prevent bird strikes — where birds are sucked into jet engines.

THRIVING BUSINESS

David Stead, owner of rival Al Hurr Falconry Services in the UAE, said falcon business was flying: “The market is massive, there is space for more. We don’t tread on each other’s toes.”

“We fly at all their hotels, Burj Al Arab, Emirates Towers, Madinat Jumeirah,” he said of his top client, luxury hotelier Jumeirah Group in Dubai.

In the UAE, Ras al-Khaimah airport, the University of Al Ain, as well as hotels in Fujairah have all expressed interest in employing falcons, said Royal Shaheen director Peter Bergh.

For Bergh’s 40 falcons, fees range from 40,000 dirhams($10,890) up to 70,000 dirhams per month.

“Here the problem gets attention because of the glossy, shiny buildings which they spoil,” said Bergh.

Regardless the opposition to pest control, falcon-breeding and -trading in the desert oil producer is on the rise.

“Falconry is now expanding. It used to be only for rich people and sheikhs to hunt,” said Abdulla Lootah, an owner of a farm in Dubai, which breeds around 50 to 60 falcons each year.

“Because falcons are easy to get and they are everywhere, everybody wants to have one. That’s why we started this business,” he said.

Some 18,000 falcons are currently registered in the UAE, said Abdulrab al-Hamiri, a deputy manager at Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency.

Every year, some 800 falconers from the Gulf, including around 300 from the Emirates, gather for speed races, though only royalty and the rich can afford to go on grand hunting expeditions abroad in countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan where annual permits can cost up to $300,000.

“It is really expensive. You have to rent land first and have a permit for hunting,” said Lootah, who keeps some 120 breeding falcons in air-conditioned spaces as mercury climbs well over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the summer.

ILLEGAL TRADE

The increasing interest in using the birds for business as well as a hobby has however created another problem. Some falconers prefer wild falcons to birds raised in captivity and that has boosted legal and illegal trade in the species.

“With the break-up of the USSR in 1993, large tracts of Asia have been opened up to trapping, some of which is through legal quotas such as Mongolia, but some is illegal,” Fox said.

“China and Kazakhstan used to have an export quota but have stopped trading in recent years. Lack of legal sources has sent much of it underground and so it continues illegally,” he said.

The hunting of wild animals including falcons in the UAE was banned in 1978, Hamiri said, and the declaration of a new law in 2002 to regulate the trade of endangered species and falcons has dramatically decreased the illegal trade.

“In regard to the UAE, we have increased efforts to combat smuggling, and as per our records, we intercept a few individuals annually mainly at airports and land border crossings,” Hamiri said. “In some cases it’s live falcons or mounted specimens… Sedating falcons and hiding them in a car.”

Every season around 600 falcons are estimated to arrive in the UAE, one of the biggest markets in the Gulf, prompting airlines to even issue “falcon passports” to regulate transport.

These days, falconers are willing to pay up to $270,000 for the rare hunting and sports birds, well up from around $30 in the late 1940s.

“It is expensive in value, but it is precious to our hearts,” said Kabi, who keeps a perch for favorite falcons in his bedroom.

($1=3.672 UAE Dirhams)

[source: reuters]

I just fit the jesses for her… still didn’t really weight or manned her yet. I will start to manned her tomorrow, today I think I will just let her more settle down at the new environment.

I don’t fit any anklets to her as her leg is very small (compared to Goshawk), so jesses which fit directly to her leg will be more suitable..

She seem to try to ‘bite’ the jesses, hopefully it is strong enough to hold her.

I will try to post the update from time to time… do wish me luck in manning and training her.

First hawk is an adult female passage bird. She was adult and have very bad condition when my friend get her (from some keeper that catch her and keep her in small cage). There are lots of defect with her… there are scar on her face and somehow her nerve is not in good condition anymore.

Since he have bad experience with human, it take a month for me to manned and train her. Even after a month, she is still hesitate to come sometimes… (by the way, she is very moody). Luckily after 2 month she show her true form and she become an impressive ‘hunter’… I never expect a hawk with the condition to become a fierce hunter like her… She is very brave to catch a very large moorhen… the moorhen is even larger than her… she try to grab the moorhen but because of the size, the moorhen manage to drag her to the pond nearby and she nearly drown. She is also fast enough to catch a common mynah. She ‘run away’ few month back… due to a pair of kites that chase her away from my friend house. (I guess the pair have some nest nearby that is why there are more aggressive toward any other bird of prey in that area)… I wish her luck and hope she have a good life out there… and I am sure she will… since she is a passage bird… and compared to the time she come to me, her condition is totally different.

The second hawk that I train this year is an adult male passage hawk. He is very nice, I think this is the nicest Crested Goshawk that I encounter so far…She is sweet and fast… very good behavior… She fly free by the first week I train her (the owner sent to me the second day the trapper catch her)… and she went to hunting the second week! I suspect she is the record for all passage crested Goshawk (because normally it take more than 2 week for hawk to be able to go hunting). At first the owner plan to breed her with the first hawk that I train. They get along very well and always call to each other. Too bad the female left.

The third crested goshawk that I train this year is a young passage male hawk. She is more stubborn and only eat on my fist on the forth day I get her! Having said that, by the seventh day, she is very calm and socialize well with everyone… the different is that she didn’t like to sit on the bow perch… but on the ground… the owner take it back and will continue to fly her… deep inside me, I think she have a big potential to be a fierce hunter looking at the way she come to my fist and grab the meat…
And till the forth hawk coming… I wish all falconer out there good luck… (I will update this ‘training story” again if I have the chances to train the forth one this year)

He sent me another CITES since the last CITES has expired. I will reapply the import CITES from my side and hopefully everything will go smoothly.

He promise to get back to me on 24th April… which is today. Let see if I will able to get any feedback from him or he just went ‘missing’..

I still hope I will able to get the Gabar… I wait for so long to get hold of any BOP for my falconry purposes… now that in my location, only Gabar Goshawk (is one of the Bird of Prey that can be kept legally)… I somehow need to get hold of some of them.

Lets wait and see

I am actually very happy with the progress of this. I make payment amount USD300 to the exporter to confirm booking of 8 head of Gabar Goshawk after getting the export CITES from him.

Now I am preparing for the leg band. The bird that can be import need to have some leg band and the importer unable to find it so I will need to send it to him.

In the mean time, he is preparing for the health certificate. Once he got the bird and the health certificate he can start to arrange for the shipping to me.

Based on the exporter, he should be able to ship the bird to me in 30 days… so by early March I should be able to received the bird.

* photo is from birdskorea.org I didn’t take the photo by myself.

Since I am on my way to an appointment, I didn’t take my balchatri to try to trap it…

Later, after few more minute driving, I saw many more bird of prey soaring in the sky. I can see up to 3 of them soaring together!

Recently there are lots of things happen to me personally… and somehow it effect me financially. Of course, even if you see the “Maslow theory” or some may refer it as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”, I will do other things which is deem more important than a ‘hobby’.

It will make my goal to have some bird of prey delayed a little more. Hopefully once my financial status become more stable, I can continue to persue for my dream.

I think many people also face the same issue like me. They have their own dream or goal in life (not just want to have and keep bird of prey) but things going up and they will be busy with its. The bad things never stop coming if we didn’t overcome it properly… so they will keep on busy until many of them let go their dream altogether.

For my, luckily I have some friends which is into this hobbies as well (and of course because I have this blog)… it will able to remind me of this dream and I can also remind myself that I have a dream that is waiting for me!

Therefore, I will need to wait for some other time to get a chance to get the species into my collection… hopefully I will have some budget in the near future and they grant me the approval to import it later.

Right now I am waiting for the result of my other application which is for the african goshawk.

However, since my budget is very small and I also thinking of getting the african hawk eagle, it make me a bit confuse. By the way, I received another quotation for African hawk eagle… which is USD 4800 per head C&F my nearest airport. It seem like if we have money, there are lots of thing we can get..

Back to the African Goshawk, I proceed to send application letter to my local veterinary department. I am not very sure if currently my country have allowed import from Africa or not… if not, then no choice but I have to wait… until the bird flu is really over.

During checking out the species (African Goshawk), seem like they are very capable and willing bird. One of posting in international falconry forum mention that they can take a guinea fowl which weight more than a kilogram… even the hawk weight is not even half a kilogram! That is very impressive.

One more things is that this species seem like capable of catching up with the common mynah! There are lots of common mynah in my location and with this species, it would be a great outing for me.

Some may ask what is the different (hunting) capabilities between African Goshawk and Asian crested Goshawk… well, their size is about the same. I haven’t fly any African Goshawk, but I do fly Crested Goshawk. If African Goshawk is capable of getting all species that many falconer in Africa talk about, then the differences of hunting capabilities between them are large! (having said that, in some location like Taiwan, the Crested Goshawk is larger compared to Crested Goshawk in South East Asian) Crested Goshawk in South East Asian is smaller and the quarries that they take also smaller.

Crested Goshawk rarely able to get common mynah. The only way for them to get it is if the condition is very upperhand for them like the mynah is not ready, they are wet etc.

Well, lets hope I can get some African Goshawk in my collection… and you can hear more comment about the comparation.

Here is a video of hunting with Crested Goshawk:

Enjoy!