General Flashcards
Hawks belonging to the genus Accipiter are also known as…
Short Wings
Three things generally true regarding male raptors:
3 Points
- first to return from migration
- chose the nesting area
- provides most of the food after the young have hatched
A raptor tends to reach full size . . .
when they leave the nest
Name three species of raptor that exhibit sexual dimorphism.
3 Points
- Kestrel
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Peregrine
A relaxed hawk is likely to . . .
Preen, raise and tuck one foot, and rouse
What factor is most important in determining what raptor any falconer should fly?
The availability of prey suitable for that raptor
The terms “passage,” “imprint,” and “chamber” describe…
How the raptor was raised
All “raptors” includes species of the order or orders…
Strigiformes and Falconiformes
The term “raptor” includes all…
Hawks and Owls
Is Accipitridae an ‘order’?
No. Accipitridae is the largest family of hawks
and eagles within the order Falconiformes, but it is not an “order”.
Desertion of the nest by adult raptors is most likely to occur…
Just prior to egg laying
Do raptors leave the nest after they have laid their eggs?
Once the eggs are laid, most raptors, though not all, are likely to stick with their clutch,
despite disturbances.
True or False:
If the first clutch of eggs is destroyed soon after being laid, many hawks and falcons will lay a second clutch.
True.
*This tendency has been used by raptor propagators to maximize the progeny of breeding pairs. The system is called “double clutching.” Caution: some raptors, if
disturbed on eggs in the wild, will abandon their nests and close down their reproductive systems for the season.
A falconer is most likely to encounter a “brancher” of a species of hawk or falcon in…
June
What is a ‘brancher’?
A brancher is a young hawk that has left the nest or eyrie, but has not left the immediate vicinity.
*In New York, a falconer will most likely encounter a brancher of the species of hawks or falcons used in falconry in June. Great Horned Owls typically breed in January or February (depending on geographical location), so branchers of this species would be encountered earlier than June (February or March).
There is an observed trend of young avian predators (particularly falcons), shortly after leaving the care of an adult, to begin taking quarry considerably larger than is the norm for adults of the same species. The three likely reasons for this are:
(3 Points)
- the youngsters are still growing and need more food than adults
- the young birds are stronger and can out-compete their elders for larger, more nutritious prey
- more skill is required to catch a smaller bird
*Certain principles of aerodynamics dictate that any bird lighter than a raptor that is chasing it can, if the wing loading is even approximately the same, always turn inside the turning radius of the larger, heavier bird. This factor operates very powerfully for a few months, but as the raptor develops flying skill and dexterity, smaller and less dangerous quarry are taken with increasing frequency.
The bird most likely to breed naturally in captivity is…
a raptor (parent)-raised eyas;
*Raptor-raised eyases are the most successful captive breeders. Captive bred raptors have produced significant numbers of young in the United States.
Male and female hawks can be determined in most species by…
the larger size of the females;
*In most species the coloration of the sexes is similar. Speeds probably don’t differ between the sexes, but especially in the bird-eating species, there is a great difference in the size between males and females. Males of some species are one-third smaller than the females.
Falconiforms in immature plumage appear to be…
larger than when they become adults;
*The juvenile flight feathers tend to be longer than the adult feathers to compensate for the less developed muscles and less ossified bones. This may give immature birds the appearance of being larger.
In Buteo, Parabuteo, and Accipiter, molting of the primary wing feathers…
starts with the inner most primary (ornithologically number 1) and proceeds in sequence to the outermost primary (ornithologically number 10).
*The correct answer for the genus Falco would be c. Caution: The critical word here is “ornithologically.” Historically, falconers counted primaries just the opposite. What is ornithologically number 1 is, to some falconers, number 10. However, most modern
falconry literature counts according to the ornithological method.
Haggards
Adult raptors
Haggards (adults) are not taken for falconry because…
they are nature’s breeding stock and should be allowed to function as such.
*Young birds of prey have more than a 70% mortality rate before they reach breeding age. The consensus of falconers and regulators in the United States is that those birds that have survived to adulthood should be allowed to remain in the wild as part of the breeding population.
