Finding A Falconer In The Foothills

Birds of prey used for no-kill nuisance bird abatement programs

- Susan Rae Sampson

When I walked in the foothills near Wenatchee Heights during the last few weeks before the late cherry harvest, I walked right into a scene from Merry Olde England.

There was a falconer, his left hand in a thick leather gauntlet, a large Harris’ Hawk named Isabella perched on his hand.

The man behind the bird was Paulie Corry, who told me that he came from a 300-year-old line of British falconers. He wore an Akubra hat from Australia, but his accent was genuine Liverpool.

His hawk wore soft leather cuffs around her legs, fitted with grommets for the snap swivel on the glove, but the swivel wasn’t attached. She wore short leather straps called “jesses” for holding her, if needed, but they were flapping loose; and she wore no leash.

Instead, her cuffs were fitted with small Christmas jingle bells for locating her after she flew free and landed. Importantly, she also wore a yellow band that shows that she was registered with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It would be illegal under U.S. law for Paulie to own, buy, sell, give, or possess any migratory bird without a license to do so.

Paulie is a licensed Master Falconer who is also authorized to use birds for no-kill nuisance bird abatement programs; and that’s what has brought him to the Wenatchee area for the summer.

Pauli started his falconry career with the U.S. Air Force in Dover, England, chasing off nuisance birds from an airfield. He moved to Escondido, CA, became a U.S. citizen, (“I’m no royalist, and I read the Constitution”), and accepted another contract with the USAF.

The U.S. Air Force appoints an officer as its official falconer, but it subcontracts for abatement of nuisance birds. For 10 years, Paulie and his hawks handled nuisance birds at March Reserve Air Force Base near Riverside, CA.