Manning

So now I have this bird… what next? How do you go through the process of taking a wild fearful bird and transforming it into something that will fly to you out of a tree on its own accord when called?? It still seems like magic to me!

Now we enter the period called manning, this is when you get a bird used to the presence of people and calm them down. There are lots of different methods to man a bird. Some falconers try to get it all done at once and throw a big party to get the bird used to all sorts of sights and sounds right away. Some keep them awake for days to keep them tired so they will, in theory, accept their lot faster, too exhausted to resist.

Other falconers approach this period with caution and try not to scare the bird. They might place the bird in a darkened room to start with, since they are so visually oriented this method is instantly calming. They will then introduce the bird to new sounds and later sights slowly, gradually allowing the bird to get used to their new life with minimal stress. I have heard folks say that this method can create a bird that is less easily spooked and can later be flown at higher weights without as much fear of loosing the bird (more on that later). I don’t know how much of this is true, but all these methods will help bring the bird down to a calmness level and ease that allows it to work with people.

I chose the middle ground. I kept my bird with me at all hours of the day but let her sleep at night, keeping her constantly involved in her new world. We set up a tarp on the wall and floor with a ring perch to keep her in an active area of the house where she could see us moving around at all times, but not requiring her to physically be with us at all times. I put her in her giant hood and brought her to work with me every day, exposing her to all that I could.

It was hard for her, but I was amazed at how quickly a wild bird adjusted to the hustle and bustle of the alien human world. It wasn’t too long before she would fluff up and get cozy on her perch, or eye us warily but make no move to try to get away. I remember the first time she was comfortable enough to start cleaning her feathers with us in the room, I was thrilled!

Throughout the entire process of manning, I would work with her every day, monitoring her weight and slowly bringing her down to where she was hungry enough to get over her fear and accept food from me. Managing their weight is the key to success. I’ll go into detail on how to I got her to start looking at me as a source of food and not as a predator in my next post.