Useful Falconry Terms

 

We decided to put together some Falconry terms and there meaning to help out anyone interested in learning more about Falconry or anyone just starting out.

 

Abba:

 

Arabic word that means cloak. A safe method of restraint that protects the feathers while allowing the bird to breath freely.

 

Accipiter:

 

True hawks. Identified by short, round wings, long tails, light eyes and a forest habitat

 

Aspergillosis:

 

Fungal (mould) infection. causes lethal inflammation of the air sacs lungs.

 

Austringer:

 

1) A person who flies short-winged hawks.

2) One who keeps and hunts short-wings and broad-wings

 

Aylmeri jesses:

 

Jess consist of three parts: anklets with grommets, mews jesses with a swivel slit, and slit-less field jesses

 

Bagged quarry:

 

Live creatures let out for the hawk to chase

 

Barbary falcon:

 

Falco pelegrinoides. Subspecies of peregrine found in inland desert regions of Africa, which has a red sheen

 

Bate:

 

To jump off and beat the wings in attempt to fly while still held to the perch, block or fist

 

Beam feathers:

 

Another name for primary feathers

 

Bells:

 

Attached to the raptor on the leg by a bewit or the Aylmeri anklet, the tail via a tail mount, or around the neck via a halsband. Used to locate the hawk.

 

Bewits:

 

Short this strip of leather or other suitable material by which bells are fastened to the legs

 

Bind:

 

Seize an hold on to a quarry or lure with the feet tightly

 

Bird hawk:

 

A hawk that preys on other birds

 

Block perch:

 

An upended log, cone or pyramid, sometimes with padded top or swivel ring for a raptor to stand on

 

Blood feathers:

 

New feathers not fully grown with the shafts full of blood at the top

 

Bloom:

 

A mantle of grey sheen which protects the hawk's back feathers, keeping them waterproof

 

Blue hawk:

 

The name for a peregrine in adult plumage

 

Bob:

 

When a hawk, particularly a longwing, moves its head up and down, especially when interested in something

 

Bow perch:

 

Semi circular bar, padded at the centre and has a tethering ring for a raptor to stand on Also in the days before guns a Falconer would use his Bow to rest his bird on.

 

Bowse:

 

When a hawk drinks

 

Brace:

 

leather or other suitable material whereby a hood is loosened or tightened

 

Broadwinged hawks:

 

vernacular name for a Buteo or Parabuteo

Buteo is a hawk-like birds, or buzzards.

 

Buzzard is the vernacular for Buteos

 

Bumblefoot: 

An infection and inflammation of a raptor's foot

 

Cadge:

 

A portable perch used for carrying hawks into the field

 

Call off:

 

To attract a hawk to the trainer by voice, signal, or lure from a perch or an assistant

 

Carry:

 

when a hawk flies off with the quarry it has just killed

 

A Cast:

 

2 or more hawks flown together flown at a difficult quarry

 

To Cast:

 

1) Throw a hawk forward off the fist to get it airborne

2) Act of disgorging a pellet of the undigested parts of quarry

3) To immobilise a hawk in a cloth between the hands to imp, put jesses on, or other stressful task

 

Casting:

 

An wad of indigestible materials separated from the meat in a hawks stomach and regurgitated

 

Cere:

 

Bare, waxy area between the beak and the crown of a raptor

 

To Check:

 

When you bird changes from one quarry to another during flight, or to hesitate because of sighting another quarry

 

Clutch:

 

The number of eggs laid and simultaneously incubated by a raptor during nesting

 

Condition:

 

Refers to the weight of the bird

 

Cope:

 

To trim or cut back and reshape an overgrown talon or beak

 

Crab:

 

When a hawk seizes another hawk, particularly when fighting over quarry

 

Creance:

 

A light line attached to the swivel of a partially trained bird before being allowed to free-fly

 

Crines:

 

Short hair like feathers about the cere

 

Crop:

 

Vascular sac above the breast bone where food is first stored as soon as it is swallowed

 

Crossing flight:

 

When a bird flies between the hawk and its quarry

 

Deck feathers:

 

The two centre and dorsal feathers of a hawks tail (train)

 

Draw a hawk:

 

To take a hawk from the mews for the first time after it completes the molt

 

Draw a hood:

 

To tighten the braces of a hood

 

Droppings:

 

Called mutes (longwings) or slices if expelled with vigour (shortwings)

 

Enseam:

 

The act of cleansing or purging a hawk of unwanted fat after a period of idleness to make it ready to fly, especially after the molt.

 

Enter:

 

Setting up a situation where a raptor will certainly catch a new quarry when introducing it to new prey

 

Falco:

 

Is the name of a genus that includes the raptors referred to as longwings or falcons

 

Feak:

 

When a raptor cleans its beak on the perch after feeding by wiping it briskly back and forth. A sign of confidence and well being.

 

Feed up:

 

To raise a raptors weight above flying weight for the molt or in preparation of release

 

Fetch:

 

When a longwing catches up to its quarry and turns it or starts to work it

 

Fistbound:

 

A hawk that does not hunt because it has received easily earned meals provided on the glove

 Flags: 

Secondary feathers in the wing lying next to the primaries

 

Fledge:

 

The achievement of flying for the first time

 

Flight feathers:

 

The main feathers used in flight comprised of the primaries and secondaries

Flush:

 

The act of causing the game, quarry or prey to bolt from cover

 

Flying weight:

 

The weight at which a hawk is healthy enough to fly and hunt yet still responsive to the falconer's control

 Foot: 

When a hawk binds to with its feet with the intent to kill or attack

 

Free-lofted:

 

When a hawk is allowed free flight in the mew

 

Fret marks:

 

A line across feathers, particularly the tail, created when a bird is starved or diseased while she was growing the feather(s).

 

Stress marks:

 

Another name for fret marks

 

Frounce:

 

A canker or sore in the mouth and throat, often seen as a coloured coating on the tongue. Caused by the protozoan Trichomonas gallinae contracted by eating infected pigeons and doves

 

Full-summed:

 

at the end of the molt when all the feathers which are going to be renewed that year are completely grown out and the feathers are no longer in blood

 

Gleam:

 

The slightly slimy coating of the casting

 

Gorge:

 

To allow the hawk to eat as much food as it can at a single meal

 Hack:

Flying a young birds freely after they are taken from the nest and before training them to allow them to learn to hunt

 

Hard-penned:

 

When the feathers of a new-born hawk are fully grown and the shafts have hardened off to a quill

 

Hood:

 

A device to shut off the flow of visual information to the hawk's or Flacon's brain in order to calm it down and prevents undue anxiety

 

Imp:

 

To mend and repair damaged feathers by joining the old with a new piece using imping needles

 

Imprint:

 

A bird raised by humans and not by other raptors; the bird will also tend to identify with humans

 

Jump-up:

 

An exercise where the hawk flies a a steep angle upwards from a perch to a falconers hand

 Lure:

A fake quarry used to train a bird

 

Lurebound:

 

Is when a bird that will not hunt but is excellent to the lure

 

Make in to:

 

Is the act of slowly and carefully approaching a hawk when on its quarry on the ground so that the hawk can be taken up

 

To Man :

 

To make a hawk accustomed to the sight and presence of people

 

Mantle:

 

1) When a hawk stretched one wing over the other wing while stretching its train

2) When a hawk crouches of over food and spreads its wings and tail in order to hide it

 

Molt:

 

The annual shedding and replacement of feathers

 

Mutes:

 

The droppings or excrement of a hawk.

 Nares:

Nostrils of a hawk

 

Pannel:

 

The stomach of a hawk

 

Pick-up piece:

 

The piece of meat held in the gloved hand, used to cover the meat on the lure to entice the hawk from the lure or quarry onto the fist.

 Pitch:

 The height at which a longwing waits on above the falconer or dog

 

Preen:

 

When a bird straightens and smooths out its feathers and putts them in order

 

Primaries:

 

The longest wing feathers, ten outermost in each wing. In a longwing, its second feather is the longest. In the broad wings it is the forth that is the longest.

 Rangle:

 A small stones given to hawks to aid in digestion by removing the indigestible greases from the stomach when they are cast up

 

Rouse:

 

When a hawk stands all its feathers on end at once and gives them a rattling shake. A sign of well being

 Sails:

 The group of large wing feathers on a raptor

 

Secondaries:

 

The flight feathers of a wing between the body and the primaries

 Shaft:

 The central hollow strut of a feather

 

Sharp-set:

 

A hawk that is ready for food and ready to hunt. Similar to keen.

 

Slicing:

 

The forceful expunging of excrement typical of short wing and broad-wing birds

 

Slip:

 

A chance a quarry, the flight at a quarry, or releasing the bird to chase quarry

 

Step off:

 

When a hawk gives up its prey for a tid-bit so that the falconer can hide the quarry

 

Stoop:

 

A steep dive toward prey from a pitch

 

Strike a hood:

 

To loosen the hood making it ready to be taken off the moment the hawk is ready to fly

 

Swivel:

 

The link between the jesses and the leash which enables it to move without twisting the leash and jesses

 

Take down:

 

Bringing the longwing back to the lure

 

Tame hack:

 

When imprints are released during the day and the falconer remains in the general vicinity and then takes them up each evening.

 

Train:

 

A hawks tail

 

Warble:

 

To stretch both wings upwards over the back till they nearly touch while spreading the tail feathers

 

Weather:

 

To place a hawk outdoors so that it is exposed to fresh air and sun

 

Weathering area:

 

place where the hawks are kept to weather

 

Webbing:

 

Soft strands on each side of a feather shaft

 

 

We do hope this has been helpful to anyone reading it or using it as a learning reference. 

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