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Welcome to Falco Sapiens Press, LLC
Books by Bruce Haak
Falco Sapiens Press is pleased to offer 3 books by author, falconer and wildlife biologist Bruce Haak
Magical Merlins
The work of five authors, six painters, and 12 photographers, Magical Merlins contains 35 illustrations (paintings, maps, plates) and 66 color photos.
Merlins are a circumpolar species, with nine subspecies worldwide. This is the first book to address the natural history and population status of the three North American subspecies. Individuals within these populations represent some of the darkest and lightest plumages on record. Topics include: breeding, migration, wintering behavior and winter range, subspecies and intergrading, foraging and roosting behavior, plumage variations, urban adaptations, and range expansion. Internationally known wildlife artists represented in this work include: Hans J. Peeters, Andrew Ellis, Mark Upton, Andrew Haslen, John Baker and N. John Schmitt.
Beach Bird
Includes over 100 color photographs, 20 historical images, and illustrations by John D. Baker, John P. Baumlin, Andrew Ellis, Hans J. Peeters, and Mark Upton.
Throughout history, the wild-caught or passage peregrine has been the coin of the realm for falconers worldwide. In his masterful work, DeArte Venandi cum Avibis, or The Art of Falconry (1250 AD), Frederick the II of Hohenstaufen devoted much scholarly effort to describing the attributes and training of peregrines to capture game birds, including waterfowl.
The value of passage peregrines was so high that they were used as both ransom and tribute during Medieval times. Starting in the 18th Century, a lucrative industry was created whereby freshly trapped passage peregrines were provided annually to the royal courts of Europe. Hawk trappers and master falconers of the day were highly rewarded financially for their skills.
Beach Bird documents the development of falconry as a hunting sport in America, and focuses on the use of passage peregrines that started in the 1940s. Both the innovative techniques that were used to capture northern peregrines along their coastal migration routes, and the innovators who pioneered autumn beach trapping as a source of birds for falconers, are discussed.
Before 1970, it was legal to capture peregrines for falconry in America. However, once DDT was known to depress peregrine falcon populations globally, a moratorium on their take was in effect until 1999. Beginning in 2009, limited numbers of capture permits for passage peregrines have been issued to falconers.
The author was one of the fortunate few to capture and train migrant peregrines for hunting in recent times. Armed with advantages that his mentors did not have, like radio-telemetry for recovering lost falcons, Bruce tested the ability of these special falcons on a variety of quarry. His cross-continent journeys to trap falcons on both the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, and his pursuit of upland game birds and waterfowl in varying habitats, are the makings of an epic outdoor adventure.
The Colorful Lives of Birds of Prey
This soft-cover book is 32 pages in length and measures 8 by 10 inches (20.5 by 25.5 cm). It contains 30 original color photos by the author, along with 30 corresponding line drawings to color. Each photo has a bio-blurb that addresses the natural history of the species, its unique behavior, or its conservation status. Each clear, sharp image provides the prospective artist with a rich color palette of realistic colors and accurate conformation of each subject.
About Bruce Haak
Bruce has spent 5 decades practicing falconry and studying wild raptors. A graduate of Oregon State University, Bruce conducted one of the early radio-telemetry studies of the prairie falcon. As a wildlife biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, he did peregrine reintroduction and population monitoring. For two decades, he bred peregrines for both falconry and reintroduction efforts.
He also has extensive experience trapping and studying wild raptors. For the past 25 years, Bruce has studied raptor migration through the western Great Basin using VHF and satellite telemetry. His interest in the urban adaptation of raptors led him to study both accipiter hawks and the three subspecies of merlins that winter in southwestern Idaho.
Bruce was introduced to falconry by the "old guard" in the Washington DC area in the early 1960s. These falconers, including Alva Nye, Brian McDonald, and Jim Fox, pioneered beach trapping in Virginia and Maryland. He moved to the West Coast in 1967, where he was exposed to duck hawking under ideal conditions.
In the 1990s, Bruce authored two raptor-related books: The Hunting Falcon, about the sport of falconry, and Pirate of the Plains, a natural history book about prairie falcons and the high desert environment of the Pacific Northwest.
Bruce's latest books, published by Falco Sapiens Press, LLC, include Beach Bird, The Colorful Lives of Birds of Prey, and Magical Merlins.
