Falconry telemetry for free flight

I have shown interest in free flying Rosie before, although I would only do so somewhere wide open with few raptors such as the Moab desert. But I would NEVER even consider flying Rosie without using Falconry telemetry, and I wonder why more people don't know about this amazing and very useful tool. I've looked at a ton of parrot free flying web sites and not one even mentions the existence of telemetry. Although parrots are much more loyal than a raptor, nearly all these sites mention that it's a risk and you may have a bird fly off on you for no reason or if something scares them. In fact, even raptors can get scared and fly off. One site says that although they have lost birds they have always recovered them at some point. But this isn't true for everyone and we all know that many birds are lost in free flight yearly.

Telemetry has helped my friend to find many fly always, and it seems so incredibly useful. He uses two types of transmitter attachments. One is connected to the leg and the other is a light harness. The transmitters give you around 3 days to locate and find your bird. In normal circumstances once a bird leaves your view it will be all up to luck to find them. The telemetry tells you which way to go and if they are flying or perched. The closer you get to your bird the louder the beeping from the receiver is.

Side view with his Lanner falcon wearing a leg transmitter who unfortunately was hit by a car a couple months ago. Amazing and highly skilled bird who unfortunately had a habit of skimming the ground. He had flown about half a mile away where he landed on a lamp post, then skimmed the ground as he turned to come back were a car hit him. He decided to buy another who was just delivered today.


Front view of his male Saker hybrid falcon also wearing a leg transmitter



Then there is the backpack transmitter, which I think would work very well with a parrot.

Female aplomado falcon



The transmitter showed in these photos are lightweight and wouldn't weigh down a parrot. Of course, some parrots may be able to destroy the transmitter, but them some won't. Rosie, for example, would be a perfect candidate for a transmitter and telemetry because she wouldn't chew it off.

Now, maybe your thinking "well, those are big birds" but in reality they are not huge.





(notice that the transmitter body isn't even visible when wings are tucked in, showing how small it really is.




He does have larger birds though, including a peregrine, this Harris hawk, and a Female saker falcon who is huge.



In my opinion if the tiny American Kestrel is able to use telemetry a parrot would have no trouble doing the same thing.
(this photo is from Google, I took all the rest)



And finally here is a photo of Rosie recalling in her harness





It will take a long time if I ever do decide to get telemetry, they cost anywhere from $300-$1,500 and I wouldn't want to be too cheap about this. I would use the same brand that my friend uses on his birds which is the Marshal brand. Marshal is one of the highest rated and most reliable transmitters. The receiver's cost around $700 while the transmitter would cost around $225, and I would probably want two of them so I could have one charging so that doubles to $450.

If you would like to read more about telemetry and transmitters here is the marshal web site

Marshall Radio Telemetry - American Falconry

very cool , thanks for that.

henpecked said:

very cool , thanks for that.

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I'm glad you liked it

Wow what an interesting read, Ashley!! Thank you so much!! And your photos are STUNNING!!

That Harris Hawk is MAGNIFICENT!!! :32:

I'm so sorry the Lanner Falcon was killed by a car. What a shame!!! You said he "bought" another one?

I don't know how true this is, but I was told by a friend of mine, who looked into becoming a Falconer, you have to go out and CATCH your own bird.

JerseyWendy said:

Wow what an interesting read, Ashley!! Thank you so much!! And your photos are STUNNING!!

That Harris Hawk is MAGNIFICENT!!! :32:

I'm so sorry the Lanner Falcon was killed by a car. What a shame!!! You said he "bought" another one?

I don't know how true this is, but I was told by a friend of mine, who looked into becoming a Falconer, you have to go out and CATCH your own bird.

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I'm so happy you liked it, I find the subject very interesting and I am stunned the well known free fliers seem to know nothing of it...

I LOVE that Harris hawk, such awesome birds and one of the most easiest and most loyal to train. We would walk around in a field and he follows you waiting to see if any game is flush out. Sometimes he would even walk on the ground and run after us XD So hilarious! And would you believe that big bird is actually the smaller subspecies, along with being the smaller male! Imagine a huge female haha. And he was very sad about his Lanner, he didn't fly his birds at all for a week before having to continue for his other birds sake.

When you first become a falconer you are required to catch either a first year red tailed hawk or a first year American kestrel(some states have more options, like in Alaska you have the Gosh hawk and Texas has the red shouldered hawk). This is to help new falconers learn how to handle a scared wild bird, teach them to wear a hood(something that is loosing popularity, but the skills are still important to have), eat from the glove, and to eventually have them well trained yo be a reliable free flier. It's a lot of work, and for 3 years you are only allowed to have one bird in your possession at any single time.

He bought his lanner falcon from a breeder, I bet your weren't expecting that LOL. There's lots of falconry breeders, and you can even request to have your bird hand raised/imprinted. Although imprinting often makes a really annoying bird who constantly screams at you for food haha. Common birds bred are Eurasian eagle owls, Harris hawks, American kestrels, gyrfalcons, saker falcons, barn owls, aplomado, peregrine falcons, red tailed hawks, and many more native and non native raptors.

Falconry isn't as well known as parrot breeding for obvious reasons. In general is a bit more reclusive, information traveling through clubs and groups, maybe a magazine dedicated to the subject, and a few websites that tell you who is breeding what.

here's one of the few sites if you are curious about this

http://www.raptorsforsale.com/raptors-for-sale.asp

Thats a very good idea! Thanks for sharing it and the pics!

Thank you SO VERY much for the detailed information, Ashley!! WOW, I learned a LOT today! AWESOME!!!

And yes, that link took me for a double take.

This is interesting.
I'm massively interested in free flying parrots, reading and watching so much information/footage. I'd NEVER thought about radio collars/transmitters, what a great idea. I just need to work on my birds recall. She's terrible and doesn't seem to learn

A side note, I've also been interested in falconry for a while, problem is its even MORE time consuming than keeping parrots i think!!

BACON said:

This is interesting.
I'm massively interested in free flying parrots, reading and watching so much information/footage. I'd NEVER thought about radio collars/transmitters, what a great idea. I just need to work on my birds recall. She's terrible and doesn't seem to learn

A side note, I've also been interested in falconry for a while, problem is its even MORE time consuming than keeping parrots i think!!

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Unless you have a lot of birds falconry is actually much less time consuming than parrots lol, raptors rarely have the same emotionally needs as a parrot. A raptor doesn't need to be hung out with daily, you won't sit their petting them and offering affection as you would with a parrot. A good routine for a raptor is to weigh everyone and make sure they are healthy, make sure they have clean water, feed them some quail, and maybe give them a hose down for a bath. You can give them 12 minutes to an hour and a half of social interaction and they will be fine for the rest of the day. They might not even want that social interaction, only wanting to be with you when flight training. Even free flying doesn't really take that long, you will reward your bird each time they return and eventually they will become full which makes flying very risky. Only the well raised and trained raptors can be flown above their flying weight but few will risk that.

One of the few raptors who really benefit from social interaction are the Harris hawks. In the wild they are social and live in family groups who hunt together. You can even show them dominance by laying your hand over their back, because in the wild the dominant birds stack up on one another.
Harris hawks, and other buteos will sit in near by trees waiting for game to be flushed out.


Here he is sitting on the truck waiting to get started, the falcons would be up in the air quickly rearing to go and waiting for a lure. The Harris simply waits for the walking to begin lol




Red tailed hawks are similar to the Harris, but they stay higher.

You also don't just start free flying right away, you start with a creance(a leash) weighed down at the end and only try free flying once they are reliable at flying when you call them.

Augur buzzard(African red tailed hawk)

Hmmm...wouldn't the receiver be a great purchase for your local club? That way the membership would have access if they lose control of their bird. Individual costs could be reduced to membership fees and a transmitter, ~$200 rather than $1000.

I live in Orange County, CA and I am surprise we don't have a parrot club, WTH?

lpolliard said:

Hmmm...wouldn't the receiver be a great purchase for your local club? That way the membership would have access if they lose control of their bird. Individual costs could be reduced to membership fees and a transmitter, ~$200 rather than $1000.

I live in Orange County, CA and I am surprise we don't have a parrot club, WTH?

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I'm not in any bird clubs, but that would be a good idea for a free flying group. There is a group of macaw free fliers in my area who fly in high wind situations but they, to my knowledge, do not use telemetry. Most falconers who use telemetry buy all their own equipment.

What a great idea! I can't believe I have never heard of it before. Nobody does falconry here so may never have heard of it without this forum and you (it is illegal to own raptors).

Thank you for sharing this post! I am in love with Red Tail Hawks I think they are beautiful! Falconry sounds like it is amazing!

I love gyr falcons and barn owls!!!!


I always wondered why parrot owners and falconers don't really communicate with each other and very rarely have I heard of an owner who keeps both. One owner is actually a trainer as well.


I really think that parrot owners could learn a lot from falconers.

I did some research and thought I would post it.
Only the transmitter is removable once setup; The backpack that they use to attach the transmitter is permanent unless you want to cut it.
The backpack is sort of like a harness but made from strong thin cord that goes under the feathers.
It must be a perfect fit to the body to avoid being tangled in branches.
PLEASE nobody try attach one to a modified harness it will just end in disaster after they get tangled in a tree. There is also other mounts that clip to feathers, loop over the neck, etc - All of them are not fit for a parrot.
I have spoken to a owner who has had a backpack on his eclectus for quite a long time now without any dramas. He has luckily used the transmitter to find the eclectus 4 times after it flying off in free flight training. There is obviously still many risks involved, e.g. cars, predators, getting tangled, transmitter failure, receiver failure, flying out of range, chewing it off, sickness and diseases from contaminated branches and many more.
Free flight should not be taken any lighter even with this involved.
Hawks are recommended to have transmitter setups weighing no more than 3% of their body weight.
The Marshall transmitters range from $125 and up. The only one that looks like it would be suitable for a smaller parrot would be the $225 Micro transmitter weighing 3.5 grams. The trackpack (backpack) for mounting is a further $35 and I am unsure of its weight.
The receiver is the thing that you walk around with that tells you what direction the transmitter(bird) is in. They are quite expensive, I haven't seen any less than $400 new but you can use different brands or second hand models as long as they are in the same frequency as the transmitter. You will also need a 6m (20ft) or longer extendable pole that they aren't scared of to get them from high branches as it is very hard to get them to fly down through sticks and leaves if they feel uncomfortable; trust me I know that one from experience after climbing up higher than the powerlines to retrieve Abby one day.

A small well secured bell could also be worthwhile to help spot them in a tree.

MonicaMc said:

I love gyr falcons and barn owls!!!!


I always wondered why parrot owners and falconers don't really communicate with each other and very rarely have I heard of an owner who keeps both. One owner is actually a trainer as well.


I really think that parrot owners could learn a lot from falconers.

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I love barn owls too! My best friend really wants a imprinted barn owl one day.

I also found that interesting. If they do they don't make it public knowledge.

Being a parrot owner who is friends with falconers I can say there is a lot to learn! And from both sides, I see birds in a emotional way while falconers see their birds for what they are. This is normal thing, we form very strong emotional attachments to our emotional birds. In comparison hawks and falcons are not emotional, so the falconers don't have that same relationship. Interacting with falconers has taught me to take a step back and view Rosie and Kenji as just a bird, it gives me a new perspective and understanding.

I could go so much more in depth, but I'm on my phone since the birdies are already in bed and I don't want to type it all out on the little screen.

@jackrob

Interesting to hear someone who has used it on a eclectus. Thanks for the added info too, great to hear more thoughts on the subject.
If I ever use a backpack mount with a parrot I would cut it off after each use and use a fresh one for the next flight outing.
I think a tail mount, as well as a leg mount, could be successful on large parrots such as a macaw. I'm not sure how easy a tail mount would fall out though.

We are all very aware of the risks of free flight, this thread is more just speculations and discussing this aspect of it

I'm very fascinated by this post. One of my thoughts was, why would someone want to hold a falcon captive and then do, what?! Watch it fly to come back to you for food??! Sorry, I don't get it. Is it for sport? I'm really not trying to be glib, Copperarabian, I can't understand why people would do this with a wild bird. My umbrella cockatoo was born in captivity, I think, but is still a wild bird, indigenous to Indonesia, that I allow to be free but has to come home because we are his flock and his source of food and water. If I lived where these birds could be part of it's own, he would be free to go.

Mare Miller said:

I'm very fascinated by this post. One of my thoughts was, why would someone want to hold a falcon captive and then do, what?! Watch it fly to come back to you for food??! Sorry, I don't get it. Is it for sport? I'm really not trying to be glib, Copperarabian, I can't understand why people would do this with a wild bird. My umbrella cockatoo was born in captivity, I think, but is still a wild bird, indigenous to Indonesia, that I allow to be free but has to come home because we are his flock and his source of food and water. If I lived where these birds could be part of it's own, he would be free to go.

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Although they are his pets, his falcons and hawks play a important role. He has his birds trained in abatment, this means he uses his birds to scare away other birds. Also, all of his current birds were bought from breeders and most are not native to north america. His only native species is his peregrine falcon, aplomado falcon, and his Harris hawk. His job is falconry, for him it is not just a hobby or sport.

For example, wineries will hire him for several months to fly his birds daily as the grapes are ripining until being harvested, without his birds they would loose most of their crop and it would affect their livelihood. Or they would have to use dangerous pesticides that hurt the wild life, or other scare tactics that do not work well. His birds are not trained to hunt, but instead to chase a lure. Occasionally they do capture something, but it is never intentional on his part and he is required to fill out a form. Just having a bird in the air is all it takes to keep the wild birds from venturing into the grape vines.

He also uses abatement many other ways, such as airports to scare wild birds away as airplanes come in. A bird in a engine could have horrific consequinces for the poor bird and the humans on the plane. He also goes to schools to educate students about raptors, allow them to see these amazing birds up close and form a relationship that makes them want to protect their wild counterparts. He's done much more as well.

He loves that his job is to fly his falcons and hawks