Search

Eurasian Thick-knee (Burhinus oedicnemus) is a widespread wading bird that occurs throughout much of Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa. We captured a juvenile specimen at the Aras River Ornithological Research Station, Turkey in October 2019, fitted it with a GPS-GSM transmitter, and tracked its migration. The bird migrated from Turkey in late October, made an eight-day stopover in northern Iraq, and then flew southwest to the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. The bird was killed in early November by a falcon being flown for falconry near Yanbu Al Sinaiyah, Saudi Arabia. The thick-knee migrated more than 2100 km in 36 days between tagging and death. This study provides the first description of Eurasian Thick-knee migration in the Middle East, as well as the first description of autumn migration of this species from satellite-tracking data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study on the short-term effects of audio raptor recordings and the visual presence of raptors, as a means of pigeon control on the University of South Africa's Muckleneuk campus was conducted over a 12-week period in 2014/2015. This study recorded no significant difference in the number of pigeons between the scare treatments, however significant difference was observed within the 30 minute period post-scare at dawn resulting in temporary behavioural modification. Knowledge of pigeons' response to audio and visual raptor presence contributes to understanding pigeon ecology and integrative pigeon control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medieval hunt and hunting manuals have been studied by historians as sources for the history of medieval science and geography, and for their insights into the daily lives of the elite societies that practiced hunting as a ritualized sport. This article examines two medieval hunting manuals, Juan Manuel's Libro de la caza, and the Libro de la montería, commissioned by King Alfonso XI of Castile, and King Alfonso X's law code, the Siete partidas, for their rhetorical and ideological portrayals of hunting and falconry as expressions of aristocratic power and sovereignty over the natural world. The article concludes with a study of an imagined debate between the merits of falconry and hunting with hounds in the Libro de la caza and Libro de la montería that sheds light on Juan Manuel and Alfonso's competing views on nobility, informed by the political history of war and rebellion that shaped the lives of both men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) led 11 countries to inscribe falconry onto the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List. The aim of this article is to examine one of UNESCO's leading principles, interculturality, through the analysis of the processes that led to the first multinational inscription of falconry. It seeks to delineate, through the study of a multinational file, how the principles of interculturality were understood and implemented both by the countries and communities involved, and how falconry came to fit into them. Using the concept of cultural diplomacy, it tries to measure the scope of interculturality in the evaluation of the relations between communities, the national States, and the UAE as the leader of the candidacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flight speeds of hunting falconry birds were determined using global positioning system data loggers. Until now, the hunting flight speed of African raptors has not been directly measured. We predicted that hunting flight speeds would differ between species and that flight dynamics, such as altitude, and bird morphology, particularly wing surface area, would influence maximum and mean flight speeds. This study considered five African raptor species, which included two long-wing species, Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus and Peregrine Falcon F. peregrinus, one short-wing species, Black Sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus, and two broad-wing species, African Hawk-eagle Aquila spilogaster and Jackal Buzzard Buteo rufofuscus. Maximum and mean hunt speeds differed significantly between the long- and short-wing species. There was no difference in acceleration or deceleration rates between these species, but this could be due to small sample sizes. There was a significant positive correlation between maximum hunt speed and maximum flight height for the long-wing species. Maximum and mean flight speeds were significantly negatively correlated with wing area for all five species in this study. However, following phylogenetic correction, no significant relationship between wing area and maximum hunt speeds was found. This study presents baseline data of hunting speeds in African raptors and further highlights the importance of inter-species variation, which can provide accuracy to flight speed models and the understanding of hunting strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillosis is a common and life-threatening respiratory disease in raptors with acute and chronic courses. Among raptors, gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) and their hybrids are often declared to be highly susceptible with juvenile individuals being the most susceptible. However, species- and age-specific experimental studies are lacking and minimal infective doses (IDs) forAspergillusspp. conidia are unknown.Therefore, 8-week-old, healthy gyr-hybrid falcons (F. rusticolus X F. cherrug) (N = 18) were experimentally infected withAspergillus fumigatususing a single intratracheal inoculation with varying dosages of conidia (102to 107conidia). Over 28 days, clinical signs were monitored as well as haematological and serological parameters. Following euthanasia, necropsy, histopathology, bacteriology, and mycology were performed. Re-isolated fungi were compared to the inoculum using microsatellite length polymorphisms. During the trial, clinical signs and dyspnoea correlated significantly with the ID. Necropsy revealed fungal lesions in the upper and lower airways of 10/18 inoculated falcons, but not in the control birds. In 9/18 inoculated falcons, fungal granulomas were confirmed in histopathology andA. fumigatuswas re-isolated from these granulomas. Except one nasal isolate all re-isolated fungal strains were identical to the inoculum strain. Based on mycology and histopathology a minimal ID of 50% was calculated to be MID50% (±S.E.) = 104.52±0.67for a single tracheal inoculation ofA. fumigatusconidia. This study demonstrates for the first time that a single exposure is able to cause acute aspergillosis in juvenile falcons. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay looks to the material realm of falconry to articulate how poetic language can possess “weight,” which is, for Roman Jakobson, a constitutive category for detecting “poeticity.” I argue that poetic weight entails a negotiation of control among poet, poem, and reader and resembles weight as it is described in medieval falconry manuals. These manuals exalt control of weight as the primary method for training birds to fly beautifully. The makeup of falconry treatises like Frederick II’sDe arte venandi cum avibus, including their marginal illuminations and vernacular and verse forms, shows an increasingly explicit awareness of the overlapping artistic aims of both falconry and poetry. Reading these thirteenth-century falconry manuals as poetics treatises, I show how falconry’s paradox of control and release gives language to an otherwise unexpressed medieval understanding of poetic textual encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires.Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 3 This article re-examines the earliest evidence for falconry in England, comprising the faunal remains of raptors and their quarry, Style II animal art which shows a preponderance of predatory birds including hawk-with-prey motifs, and small copper-alloy bells which may have functioned as falconry equipment. I consider these strands of evidence within a broader European context including the contemporary ‘falconry graves’ found in Scandinavia and Central Europe, and legal codes treating crimes against falconry birds and hawking dogs on the Continent. I argue that a persuasive case can be made for falconry in early Anglo-Saxon England, that falconry may have been introduced from Scandinavia to the region of East Anglia around the late sixth to early seventh century, and that falconry and falconry birds may have played an important social role in this emerging kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper examines leather straps associated with avian bones from archaeological excavations in Medieval Russia. These leather straps, found attached to the tarsometatarsi of hunting birds, such as gyrfalcon, peregrine falcon, goshawk and sparrowhawk, constitute components of falconry equipment. A leather strap, secured on the tarsometatarsus of a buzzard, indicates the use of this bird as a decoy during the training of hunting birds. The same is true for the crane and little owl. The loss of other bones of the avian skeletons during the excavation process often leads to the erroneous interpretation of the leather straps with avian tarsometatarsi as amulets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among scholars of Spanish Baroque poetry, the dominant opinion has been that the writer Luis de Góngora was silent, indifferent, or even supportive in the face of the forced exile of the Moriscos, the “New Christian” descendants of converts from Islam. This essay instead takes the minority position that Góngora opposed the expulsion, thus mirroring his Andalusian patrons and his humanist mentor Pedro de Valencia. Specifically, in his long lyric poem theSoledades, Góngora encodes opposition to the expulsion in the falconry scene and reinforces the connection between the cantos through the theme of parental grief, elaborated as well in his fragmentary but systematic allusions to Claudian'sRape of Proserpine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), falconry is not only considered a sport but also an important aspect of the region's cultural heritage. This paper seeks to explore the way in which falconry has been inscribed and re-articulated within the contemporary society of the UAE as it evolved from necessity to heritage sport. The discussion will examine: the contemporary role of falconry within the national story of the UAE, its central role in the proposed Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi and its inscription as living human heritage by UNESCO. In doing so the role of sport within the development of local, national and transnational heritage identities in the UAE is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This biographical sketch of Tokugawa Ieyasu aims to construct a cultural profile of the man primarily through a reading of a portrait of him done (after his death) by Kanō Tan'yu, 'Dream Portrait of the Tōshōgu Deity'. The depiction shows his grounding in classical Chinese texts, his collection of Chinese ceramics and other objects, his large collection of swords, and his enduring interest in falconry. Each of these is investigated as a means to illuminating the social networks of patronage and cultural practices through which he established and maintained the power of his clan. These perspectives reveal Ieyasu as a representative sixteenth-century warrior, a product of the particular social and political conditions of his time, whose eventual apotheosis was an ideal which shaped the educations and aspirations of millions of samurai throughout the ensuing Edo period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the sport falconry, also known as the Sport of Kings. According to the North America Falconers Association, falconry can be defined as the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor. The most important element of being a falconer is passion for the raptor. Falconry takes lots of time and effort. It requires much more time than caring for companion animals, horses or farm animals. One can equate caring for and training raptors to caring for a human newborn. One must provide for their every single need on a daily basis. Even though the sport is called falconry, other birds of prey, including hawks, eagles and owls, are also used. The following are just a few of the raptors used in falconry. Housing is very important in caring for raptors. Raptors should be housed in rooms that are well-ventilated, free from drafts, and dry. Perches, where raptors spend a significant amount of time, must be comfortable. One has to be careful when transporting raptors, because they are prone to motion sickness.