Falconry Manual: A Practical Guide to Training Hawks and Falcons - Hardcover

Beebe, Frank L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0888390343 ISBN 13: 9780888390349

Publisher: Hancock House, 2017

Synopsis

A Falconry Manual is a comprehensive and extensively updated guide to the art, science, and practice of falconry. Written and illustrated by Frank L. Beebe―a pioneering naturalist, master falconer, and one of North America’s most respected authorities on raptors―this timeless work draws on more than fifty years of field experience, research, and practical knowledge.

Covering raptor behaviour, capture, training, breeding, equipment, and the ethical responsibilities of falconry, Beebe combines scientific understanding with deep respect for the birds themselves. Long regarded as a standard reference for apprentices and experienced falconers alike, A Falconry Manual remains one of the most influential and respected falconry books ever published, helping preserve an ancient art for future generations.

About this title

About the Author

Frank Lyman Beebe (1914–2008) was one of North America's most influential falconers, artists, and wildlife researchers. Born in Canada, he received his introduction to raptors at the age of ten and went on to dedicate over seven decades to the study, care, and conservation of birds of prey.

Beebe began his professional career as Zoo Curator in Vancouver in 1939 and later served as chief illustrator for the Victoria Provincial Museum, where his detailed wildlife illustrations documented thousands of plant and animal species. He participated in pioneering expeditions to the Queen Charlotte Islands to study and collect specimens of the rare Peale's Peregrine Falcon, becoming one of the world's foremost authorities on this maritime raptor as well as the Gyrfalcon.

In the early 1960s, Beebe achieved groundbreaking success in captive falcon breeding―work that would prove crucial decades later in the recovery of endangered raptor populations. He co-founded the North American Falconers Association with Harold Webster and maintained lifelong ties with the B.C. Falconry Club and the Falconry Club of America.

A prolific author, Beebe's books―including North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks (1960), Hawks, Falcons and Falconry (1976), and The Compleat Falconer (1992)―were instrumental in establishing falconry as a respected sport in North America and provided the first comprehensive guides to raptor capture and training techniques. His lively illustrations enhanced each volume, bringing technical concepts to life with artistic precision. 

More falconers and nature enthusiasts likely owned more original Beebe paintings than those of any other artist, and few have match

From the Back Cover

A comprehensive guide to Falcons. This book is presented as a summary of practical information on the training of your hawk or falcon. It draws on my earlier works in this field: North American Falconry, 1976; and finally my major work covering the history, training and behavior of birds of prey, The Complete Falconer 1992 (Also Hancock House Publishers). The Eurasian history of falconry reaches as far back in time as the recorded history of mankind. However, in North America of which there is any record were trained and flown in the eastern United States shortly after World War 1. However, until the publication of North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks, there was no comprehensive source of information available which dealt with the techniques of either capturing or training hawks and falcons. Until some kind of administrative common-sense was made of the foregoing, especially in the United States, the writing of a popular book on falconry could not be properly undertaken. This problem arouse because prior to 1983 in the United States the fundamental question, where can I obtain a hawk or falcon? could not be clearly answered. Now, for the first time since the continent-wide protection of North America raptorial birds in the late 1960's, there is a clear answer. This answer is the right of purchase. The novice can obtain a domestic bred hawk or falcon from a raptor breeder the same way he can obtain a horse, dog, cockatiel or canary. Ownership is transferred with the payment of the purchase price. It is also rewarding that with the re-establishment of the peregrine falcon back into much of its former range, the result of captive breeding and hacking techniques pioneered by falconers, and the consequent downgrading of the bird's endangered status and the recovery of many birds of prey populations (in all likelihood this will continue to an over abundance and movement to eventually villianize the predator again) that many jurisdictions of North America again permit the capturing of wild hawks and falcons. This adds the option of providing both fresh blood lines for captive breeders and the excitement of capturing your own bird. Falconry is an ancient sport with contemporary objectives of yielding a maximum recreational return for little or no drain on the wild populations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hancock House
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0888390343
• ISBN 13: 9780888390349
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 198