Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person involved in falconry: a "falconer" flies a falcon; an "austringer" flies a hawk or an eagle. In modern falconry, the red-tailed hawk, Harris's hawk, and the peregrine falcon are some of the more commonly used birds of prey. The practice of hunting with a conditioned falconry bird is also called "hawking" or "gamehawking", although the words hawking and hawker have become used so much to refer to petty traveling traders, that the terms "falconer" and "falconry" now apply to most use of trained birds of prey to catch game. Many contemporary practitioners still use these words in their original meaning, however.
The great grey owl is a very large owl, documented as the world's largest species of owl by length. It is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, and it is the only species in the genus Strix found in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In some areas it is also called Phantom of the North, cinereous owl, spectral owl, Lapland owl, spruce owl, bearded owl, and sooty owl.
The Alaska Raptor Center is a raptor rehabilitation center in Sitka in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located on a 17–acre campus bordering the Tongass National Forest and the Indian River. The mission of the Alaska Raptor Center is to promote and enhance wild populations of raptors and other avian species through rehabilitation, education and research. Although the main patients are raptors, especially bald eagles, the center will take any bird in need of care. The Alaska Raptor Center receives between 100–200 birds a year, with many suffering from some sort of trauma. They have treated birds with injuries from electrocution, collisions, gunshot wounds, leg hold traps, starvation, disease and lead poisoning.
Training raptors is a complex undertaking. Books containing advice by experienced falconers are still rudimentary at best. Many important details vary between individual raptors, species of raptors and between places and times. The keeping and training of any raptor is strictly and tightly regulated by U.S. state and federal laws. Anyone in the USA who is interested in flying raptors must seek out a state and federally licensed falconer to sponsor them through an apprenticeship period lasting two years at a minimum, and often considerably longer.
Lindsay Wildlife Experience, formerly known as Lindsay Wildlife Museum, is a family museum and wildlife rehabilitation center in Walnut Creek, California. Lindsay is the first wildlife hospital established in the United States, and a popular family museum in the San Francisco East Bay Area. Founded in Walnut Creek in 1955, the museum's programs "connect people with wildlife to inspire responsibility and respect for the world we share." The museum features a number of California wildlife exhibits, natural history specimens, and a special theater offering a look into one of the hospital's many wildlife treatment rooms. The rehabilitation center—still among the largest in the country—treats more than 5,000 injured, sick, or orphaned wild animals each year.
Wildlife rehabilitation is the treatment and care of injured, orphaned, or sick wild animals so that they can be released back to the wild.
The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) is a non-profit environmental education organization based in Quechee, Vermont. Its mission is to motivate individuals and communities to care for the environment through education, research, and avian wildlife rehabilitation.
The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide. The successful recovery of the peregrine falcon in the United States, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999, enabled the organization to expand its mission to include other endangered raptors around the world. The Peregrine Fund is headquartered at its World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, on a 580-acre (2.3 km2) campus with breeding and research facilities, an administrative office, interpretive center, research library, and archives.
The Raptor Trust is a wild bird rehabilitation center located in the Millington section of Long Hill Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, and surrounded by the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center is a zoo in Belize, located some 47 kilometres (29 mi) west of Belize City on the Western Highway. Set in 12 hectares, the zoo was founded in 1983 by Sharon Matola. It is home to more than 175 animals of about 48 species, all native to Belize. The natural environment of Belize is left entirely intact within the zoo. The dense, natural vegetation is separated only by gravel trails through the forest. The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center receives over 68,000 visitors annually, with 15,000 being students, teachers, and parents.
Jemima Parry-Jones is a British authority on birds of prey (raptors), a conservationist, author, raptor breeder, lecturer, consultant and is the Director of the International Centre for Birds of Prey.
Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Antigo, Wisconsin, United States, dedicated to caring for injured or orphaned avian wildlife. It works with and temporarily cares for birds from endangered or threatened species "for rehabilitation and educational purposes."
The Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center is a multi-campus nature preserve and educational center in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The NWDC is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation which includes a 611 acres (247 ha) mountain park, lodge, gift shop, and museum in Beulah, a small museum and educational center as well as an open-space park on the Arkansas River in Pueblo, and an adjacent raptor education and rehabilitation facility.
The California Living Museum is a zoo in Bakersfield, California. The primary focuses are plants and animals that are native to California, specifically Kern County.
The Rocky Mountain Raptor Program is a 501(c)(3) non-profit wildlife conservation organization based in Fort Collins, Colorado that rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured birds of prey—including eagles, hawks, falcons and owls—and, through its comprehensive Environmental Education program, teaches the importance of preserving wildlife and wild places for future generations. RMRP has developed a national reputation for the treatment of raptor illness and injuries, cage design, volunteer management, community involvement, and youth development. Raptor patients receive fracture repair, wound care, fluids to combat dehydration, nutritious food, and regular medical attention to promote healing. Raptors that are permanently injured and therefore non-releasable may become an Educational Ambassador. These raptors are the cornerstone of our Environmental Education program, which makes more than 200 presentations each year throughout the region, teaching children and adults about the importance of protecting wildlife and wild places. The program's environmental education program, particularly in the K-12 sector, has developed an excellent reputation throughout Colorado. RMRP reaches more than 15,000 schoolchildren annually. Numerous outreach exhibits throughout the state reach hundreds of thousands of people annually. Rocky Mountain Raptor Program currently averages about one admission and several injured raptor calls each day, and 77% of treatable raptors are released.
HawkQuest, founded in 1986 by Kin Quitugua, is an environmental education organization based in Parker, Colorado, which uses participatory lectures including live raptors to help people "understand and appreciate the interaction of wild living things in their natural environment."
The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital (ADFH) is the first public medical institution exclusively for falcons in the United Arab Emirates. Established by Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and opened on 3 October 1999, Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital has become the largest falcon hospital in the UAE and in the world with a patient influx of approximately 11,000 falcons per year. The ADFH describes their mission as a goal "To protect, conserve, research, and promote captive-bred and wild falcons health, wildlife, and falconry tradition. To lead efforts of Abu Dhabi government to improve and protect animal welfare and to increase awareness and responsibility of people for animal welfare as the leading center for animal healthcare and welfare in Abu Dhabi Emirate."
The Juneau Raptor Center (JRC) was a raptor rehabilitation center in Juneau in the U.S. state of Alaska. Founded in 1987 and located in the Tongass National Forest, its mission was the rehabilitation of sick and injured eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, ravens, hummingbirds and other avian wildlife brought in from Juneau and Southeast Alaska. The JRC was licensed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to handle eagles and migratory birds, and was governed in part by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
The fauna of the State of California may be the most diverse in the United States of America. Of the Lower 48 conterminous states, California has the greatest diversity in climate, terrain and geology in general. The state's six life zones are the lower Sonoran (desert); upper Sonoran ; transition ; and the Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic zones, comprising California's highest elevations. California’s diverse geography gives rise to dozens of different ecosystems, each of which has its own unique native plants and animals. California is a huge state, the 3rd largest in the U.S., and can range broadly in habitat type.
The Southern Vermont Natural History Museum is a natural history museum, at the Hogback Mountain Scenic Overlook on Route 9 in West Marlboro, Vermont. The museum is surrounded by the Hogback Mountain Conservation Area, over 600 acres of protected forest land, with views of three states. The Museum was established in 1996 around the Luman Ranger Nelson Natural History Collection, one of the largest collections of native birds and mammals in the northeast, with 250 species represented.
