Beach Bird
Beach Bird documents the development of falconry as a hunting sport in North America, and focuses on the use of juvenile migrant “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 the United States. 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.
This book chronicles the near extinction of peregrine falcons in North America, and combines history, conservation, falconry, and artwork to highlight the most successful wildlife restoration programs in history. It details the monumental efforts required to breed and reintroduce captive-bred peregrines into the wild. Done with the aid of the falconry community, this resulted in the highest density of nesting peregrines ever recorded in North America. In addition, the book describes the research efforts of Mike Yates, Bill Seegar, Tom Maechte, Gregg Doney, Scott Ward and others to monitor wild populations of migrant peregrines from the 1970s until today.
Beach Bird puts forth a pure vision of falconry as an independent hunting sport—a traditional form of the art and practice that Bruce has always modeled. And it encourages latter day falconers to reflect on modern innovations and whether they are really improvements or just complexities that lead us astray. Mostly, it challenges anyone with the opportunity and good fortune to share space with these most noble birds to learn the lessons that they teach.
The book is filled with photographs, both classic and current. Unique artwork is provided by the finest raptor artists in the world: John Baumlin, Hans Peeters, Andrew Ellis, Mark Upton, and John Baker. Bruce spent countless hours researching and collecting documents and photographs to ensure that this book is not only a joy to read, but that it pays homage those who made the history and are still making it.
The author was one of the fortunate few to capture and train migrant peregrines for hunting immediately following a nearly 40 year moratorium on their use. 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.
Throughout history, the wild-caught peregrine has been the coin of the realm for falconers worldwide. In his masterful work, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus, 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 in Holland and Flanders 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.
Bruce has spent five 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 25 years, Bruce 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 southwest Idaho.
Bruce was introduced to falconry by the “old guard” in the Washington, D.C. 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 Southern California in 1967, where he was exposed to duck hawking under ideal conditions.
With Beach Bird, he revives a forgotten part of America’s falconry experience and restores the passage peregrine to its natural pride of place. As we learn, trapping falcons is an art form: driving the beach while scanning the horizon in dawn's early light for that tell-tale silhouette of the passage peregrine is an acquired skill. Throughout the book, Bruce shares his knowledge of peregrines while acknowledging the rich history of this magnificent bird in falconry. Enjoy Beach Bird and you too will be thrilled.
