Certified Master Naturalist, Kevin Bezy, provided this interesting article about trapping hawks!
Hawk Trapping
By Kevin G. Bezy, PhD
A farmer in a nearby county was having trouble with a hawk scouting out her chicken yard. The hawk was disquieting her chickens and possibly affecting egg production. Not sure what to do she asked around and found that a master falconer lived in Franklin County, VA. She contacted him through a friend and he agreed to try to capture the hawk.
The endangered chicken yard
The master falconer, Robb Herbst, grew up in southeast Pennsylvania near Lancaster. He attended Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. In 1988, he earned an associate’s degree from Harcum in Animal Center Management. Early in his career, Mr. Herbst managed an exotic animal game ranch and he worked for the Humane Society. In the 1990s, Mr. Herbst completed an internship at the Sharon Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center at the National Audubon Society Headquarters, Connecticut. There he met John McNeely who influenced his interest in birds of prey. In that job, he took birds to school assemblies. Following that he interned at the Nature and Raptor Center (western species) in Pueblo Colorado. Moving on from there Robb obtained an internship at the Vermont Raptor Center. When he completed the internship, Mr. Herbst was hired as the assistant director of the Hudson Valley Raptor Center. For one season Mr. Herbst worked in the bird show at Dollywood. At the end of the season, he returned to his job as assistant director at Hudson Valley Raptor Center.
On a trip to Virginia, Mr. Herbst went to Shenandoah Outfitters to buy a canoe. He arrived two weeks early and hiked around the area. That’s when he decided to stay in Virginia. He earned a bachelor’s of science in Social Studies from Ferrum College. He taught Students with Disabilities for several years before he went to Magna Vista High School as a social studies teacher, where he is still employed.
There are approximently 60 licensed falconers in Virginia. To become a falconer one must pass a written test, have one’s facilities inspected by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (now called the Department of Wildlife Resources), and have a sponsor for two years. To become a master falconer, one is an apprentice for two years and a general falconer for three years. After that, one can begin the process of being granted the title “Master Falconer.”
Mr. Herbst owns three birds of prey, a two-year-old Harris Hawk named Henry, a 14-year-old Eurasian Barn Owl named Lenny, and an under one-year-old American Barr Owl named Jaimy.
Jaimy
When giving a demonstration on birds of prey at Sailor’s Creek
Battlefield near Farmville, an audience member, Clair Flynn, asked Mr.
Herbst if she could be his apprentice.
She has been working with Mr. Herbst since that meeting.
Mr. Herbst’s goal was to trap the errant hawk to remove it from the vicinity of the chicken yard. When he traps a bird of prey he trains it to hunt and he may use it in demonstrations if it is suitable. 75% of Red Tail Hawks die in nature in their first year. The trapping and training will increase the hawk’s chance of survival should Mr. Herbst release it later.
Clair Flynn with Jaimy
When we arrived at the farm Mr. Herbst had to repair the netting on his Swedish Goshawk trap. The doors are designed to close when the bird lands on the perch. The netting is soft so that it does not harm the bird. We set the trap under trees so that in the event of trapping the bird it would not be in the sun. This was a hot day in July. The trap was also near the chicken yard. There is never a guarantee of success on such an adventure and this day proved to be unsuccessful, as far as catching the hawk. We waited several hours without luck. It did provide Mr. Herbst and opportunity to work with his apprentice, to continue Jaimie’s training, and to educate a few friends whom he involved in the effort.
Mr. Herbst and Ms. Phalen repairing the Goshawk trap
The trap is set
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