“How do you keep the bird on your arm from flying away from you?”
The vast majority of the questions that I am asked as an educator is about the birds themselves. So when the rare question about our daily lives in animal care and education comes up, I am very excited to talk about it, because I think that the subject of wild animal care and husbandry is an important topic to discuss so that damaging assumptions are not made about the handler’s relationship with their animal.
Without having discussions with the public about why wild animals are in our care and how they are cared for, there can be harmful assumptions made when people see us handling them that our animals are, or can be pets, or that they have a “special bond” with their trainer (in the case of raptors, they aren’t pets, and they don’t bond with their handlers).
It is important to remember that without proper training, interaction with or illegally keeping a wild animal can be dangerous to your health and safety. The educators who you see handling wild animals, including myself, have had hundreds to thousands of hours of training.
Learning to handle and train raptors, like in this photo, can take hundreds to thousands of hours of training.
**DISCLAIMER: This article is not meant to encourage or instruct anyone to keep a wild animal as a pet. It is meant to be an entertaining, informative look inside the daily life of animal care experts who work in professional, licensed animal husbandry.
All of the raptors under permanent care of the Alabama Wildlife Center are injured and cannot be returned to the wild, and so they have been legally permitted to the organization by the Fish and Wildlife Service, and become educators and ambassadors for the conservation of their species.
Wild, legally protected, and/or endangered animals of any species are never pets and cannot be tamed or domesticated by members of the public. Any and all injured wild and baby animals that you find should be reported to a licensed rehabilitation center or Game and Fish warden in your state, and you should never keep wild animals or try to rehab on your own. If you find an injured or baby animal, you can find instructions on what to do here.
In the United States, falconry is highly regulated and its practice requires state permits, years of training, hundreds of hours in yearly animal training and care, and thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. While it may look “cool”, it is not simply just a hobby or something that the average person has the resources to do. It is a lifetime commitment that will interfere with every part of your previous routine and life plans.
If you are in the US and interested in falconry, you can read the federal laws about it here. Falconry licenses are permitted by state and not by the federal government. To find your state’s local falconry laws and apply for a permit, you will have to contact your state’s Fish and Wildlife Office. You can find your state’s Fish and Wildlife contact information here. **
When you are learning to handle raptors in an education setting, two of the first things that you will learn are:
1. The birds are wild animals, and they are education ambassadors for the conservation of their species. They are not pets, and they will not form a special bond with you. Treat them like you would treat a coworker.
2. Because they are wild animals, we require special gear for their training, handling, and care, to protect both them and ourselves and keep everyone safe. You should never approach a raptor without falconry gear.
There is obviously a LOT more than these two points to know and learn about raptor husbandry before someone is ready to handle a bird, but for the sake of brevity, since this article is just about handling gear, we will stick to these two ideas.
Also, keep in mind that this article will not even come close to covering ALL falconry gear. This is VERY basic information, simply meant to introduce you to the basic gear that professionals use to handle a raptor on a glove.
INTRODUCTION TO BASIC FALCONRY GEAR
To go over falconry gear, we will start on the bird, and end on the human. Also, keep in mind that gear size varies greatly depending on the species of bird. Gear cannot be purchased – each piece is custom-made to fit each individual animal.
FALCONRY GEAR ON THE BIRD
-ANKLETS
The first piece of falconry gear to notice are anklets. If you look at the above photo of a Steppe Eagle, you will see that the bird has small pieces of leather tied around its legs. These are called anklets. Anklets are made of leather and are soft, malleable, and a little loose around the leg, but cannot fit over the foot.
First, an anklet is cut out of leather:
And then it is put on the bird. When the anklet is put on the bird, one of the ends of the anklet goes through the slit on the other end, so the holes line up, as in this photo.
-JESSES
The next piece of falconry gear are called jesses. Jesses are long straps of leather that are attached to the anklets. Jesses are the main piece of gear that the handler holds onto in order to control the bird while it is on the glove. The larger the bird, the longer and thicker the jesses will be. The holes at the end of the jesses are where the swivel is pulled through them.
Jesses can be tied through the holes in the anklets using a variety of different styles. These jesses were tied onto an anklet using a slip knot.
In general, anklets, and sometimes jesses, are kept on captive birds permanently, until they wear out and need to be replaced, both to reduce the bird’s stress and make the process of interacting with and handling the bird quicker and easier.
A bird properly wearing anklet and jesses would look like the following photo. Notice the anklets around the hawk’s legs, and the jesses hanging off of them:
A captive Harris Hawk wearing anklets and jesses.
Falconry has been around for over 4,000 years. There are many, many more styles of anklets and jesses besides the ones shown here!
FALCONRY GEAR ON THE HUMAN
Anklets and jesses, in many cases, stay on the birds until they need to be replaced. The rest of the gear is only used when actively handling the bird, and is taken off when the handling or training is complete.
-SWIVELS
Swivels are pieces of metal that connect jesses to leashes, and turn in a full 360-degree circle – so they swivel around. There are many, many kinds of swivels, but I will only cover two here, the Sampo/Ball Bearing Swivel, and the British Swivel.
In the image below, the small swivel on the far left is a Sampo/Ball-Bearing swivel, and the four swivels on the right are British swivels.
The smallest swivel on the left – #1 – is a Sampo swivel and would be used for very small birds, such as falcons or a screech-owl. From there, 2-5 are British swivels. #2 would be used on a Barn Owl or Red-Shouldered Hawk, #3 would be used on a Red-tailed Hawk or Great Horned Owl, #4 is used on our Eurasian Eagle Owl (the largest owl in the world), and #5 is used on our Bald Eagle.
–LEASHES
The leash attaches to the swivel and is then held by the handler, either wound around the pinky and ring fingers or held tightly in the right hand. The leash allows the handler to have a long piece of material to hold onto to prevent the bird from flying away, should the handler’s hold on the jesses fail. Leashes can also be used to attach birds to perches.
In the image below, you can see how leashes vary in length, and how longer leashes are used on larger birds and also use larger swivels. I have laid out examples of leashes with their corresponding swivel to their right. From left to right:
#1 would be used on a falcon or screech-owl; #2 on a Red-tailed Hawk or Great Horned Owl; #3 on our Eurasian Eagle Owl, and #4 on our Bald Eagle.
There are also two types of leashes represented here. #1 is called a “button leash” – there are no clips on this leash. It has a plastic button on the end that prevents it from slipping through the swivel. Leashes 2-4 are clip leashes – they clip directly onto the swivel and do not need to be threaded through the swivel.
-GLOVES
The last piece of basic falconry gear is perhaps the most recognizable and well-known – the glove. Gloves are sometimes also referred to as “gauntlets”. Because most people are right-handed, gloves are traditionally worn only on the left hand, leaving the right hand free to interact with the environment.
Gloves are used mainly to protect the handler from the bird’s talons, but they also serve as a tool to train the bird. Raptors are often trained to associate the glove with food so that they have a positive experience when around the glove, and so that they are motivated to come to the glove specifically instead of any human arm for food.
Gloves are almost always made of leather, but the size of the glove and type of leather vary greatly depending on what species of bird the glove is made for. A proper weight and size of glove must always be chosen to fit the bird being handled – we do not want a small bird on a large glove that it cannot comfortably perch on, nor do we want a large bird on a small or thin glove so that it could harm its handler.
Gloves used to handle small birds, such as falcons or screech-owls, are generally thin and only cover the hand and wrist. Gloves for large hawks and owls usually cover up to the elbow, and gloves for eagles can sometimes cover the entire arm.
In the image below, the gloves would be used for the following species of birds:
#1, falcons or a screech-owl; #2, Barn Owl or Red-Shouldered Hawk; #3, Red-tailed Hawk or Great Horned Owl; #4, Eurasian Eagle-owl; #5, Bald Eagle.
HOW TO USE FALCONRY GEAR
So now that we know what basic falconry gear is, how do we use it to actually handle a bird?
This is the Alabama Wildlife Center’s education Barn Owl. She (and her feet) will be featured in some of the following photos demonstrating how to assemble falconry gear. Barn Owls are the most widespread owl species and are found on every continent except Antarctica.
STEP 1: STEPPING UP AND HOLDING THE JESSES
Part of an education raptor’s training is a positive association with the glove, and willingly stepping up onto it when approached by a handler. A raptor should never be grabbed by the jesses; it should always willingly choose to step up onto the glove.
Once the bird has stepped up, the handler will move the jesses under the thumb and pinch them, so that the bird is securely held. As mentioned before, this is the main point of control that the handler has on the bird, and as long as the bird is being held, the handler should always be conscious that they are securely holding the jesses.
STEP 2: SLIPPING THE SWIVEL OVER THE JESSES
The next step is slipping the swivel over the jesses. In this example, I am using a British swivel, so the larger ring goes over the jesses. Sampo swivels have two identical rings, so either ring could be used to go over the jesses with a Sampo.
STEP 3: THREADING THE SECOND LOOP OF THE SWIVEL THROUGH THE JESSES
This is the most difficult part of the process. The second loop of the swivel – in the case of the British swivel being used, the smaller loop – needs to be threaded through the holes in both of the jesses. It looks like the image below when done correctly.
STEP 4: THREADING THE LEASH
The leash used in this image is a button leash, so the end of the leash is threaded through the swivel until it hits the button. The button is secured by pushing it through the neighboring loop in the leash. Clip leashes are simply clipped on the swivel.
STEP 5: WRAPPING THE LEASH AROUND YOUR FINGERS
The final step in securing a bird to a glove is wrapping the leash around your pinky and ring fingers. When we as handlers do this, we use our palm and pinky and ring fingers to securely hold the leash in your hand. If the bird bites, as long as we have our thumb on the jesses and a good grip on the wrapped leash, the bird cannot get away.
The pictures below show the final, proper way to hold a bird on the glove, with the jesses strongly pinched under the thumb and the leash wrapped around the pinky and ring fingers, which are gripping the leash in the palm.
OPTIONAL STEP 6: CLIPPING THE SWIVEL TO THE GLOVE
Traditionally, once the leash is either wrapped around the left pinky and ring finger or is being securely held in the right hand, the bird is considered secure. However, some gloves do have clips on them, as you can see in the image below. All of these gloves have a clip except for the right-most one.
In order to have one extra step of security, many educators will also clip the glove to the swivel, as seen in the image below:
When describing this process, I always tell people that even when the glove is clipped to the swivel, you should never rely on it. Always pretend that every glove does not have a clip. The clip is like an emergency brake – if all else fails, it will save you. Having the glove clipped to the swivel does not mean that you can be lax in your grip on the jesses or leash – the clip is only there to save you if your other safeguards fail.
PROPER HANDLING POSTURE
The last part of handling a raptor is proper posture. The bird is now attached to us, and our top priority is now the bird’s safety and comfort. When we as handlers have birds on the glove, you may not notice it when talking to us, but we are always hyper-aware of our surroundings – making sure there is nothing the bird could fly into, that we are not standing too close to windows or anything that could harm the bird, that there is nothing that could attack or spook it, that no one is trying to touch it, etc. We also put the bird’s comfort before our own – and that means standing properly and always keeping our arm straight, even if it becomes uncomfortable or painful.
Below is an image of the proper posture when holding a bird:
Both feet are on the ground, I am standing straight up, and my left arm is at a 90-degree angle to my waist. I am not pressing my elbow into my waist or supporting it on my hip, which is something that new handlers are tempted to do. I am holding the bird at arm’s length out away from my waist, and not holding the bird close to my body. The bird should be facing forward, and depending on the species, have its feet resting on my arm and the base of my hand, and not on my fingers. It should be sitting flat and not at an angle.
EXAMPLES OF POOR/IMPROPER HANDLING POSTURE
The images below are examples of POOR handling posture – these are things that we are trained to NOT do.
This first image is one of the most common handling mistakes – holding your arm up instead of at a 90-degree angle to your waist. This posture causes the bird to climb up the glove, sit at an angle, and rest its feet on the fist instead of the arm and hand.
This second image is holding your arm too low. This is not as common of a mistake as holding your arm too high. Holding your arm too low causes the bird to climb up your arm as it tries to reach higher ground.
Finally, another common mistake is not being conscious of always holding the jesses and leash tightly. An improper, loose grip on the jesses and leash would look like the image on the left, while properly holding the jesses and leash looks like the image on the right.
And that is how raptor handlers keep their birds on the glove and prevent them from flying away! This is only scratching the surface of falconry gear and practices, but I hope that you found it to be an interesting and informative look into animal handlers’ daily lives!
