Jake the falcon heads for the hills
By Nancy Pasternack, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 15 October 2005
SCOTTS VALLEY — Jeff Diaz takes off running through a field behind the Scotts Valley Metro station, aiming his radio telemetry transmitter as if it were an assault rifle.
Wearing a bucket hat and fatigues, Diaz jumps around near his truck and claps his hands. Then he fires a .22-caliber blank that emits a screaming whistle.
He is trying to scare off a murder of crows, but succeeds only in frightening a woman and her dog.
"My falcon was spotted here," Diaz, 44, tries to explain.
The founder of Ronin Air Falconry Services was in the midst Friday of a series of antics designed to find, lure and retrieve a bird that escaped from his truck last Sunday.
Jake the Saker falcon is Diaz’s fifth escapee in three years. Diaz had been training the bird to intimidate sea gulls on Capitola Beach.
The bird was lost when he escaped from Diaz’s truck during a demonstration the falconer gave at a birthday party.
Diaz advertises two aspects of his business on the back of his white Ford Tundra: falconry demonstrations, and "Environmental Bird Pest Control."
His falcons have been trained to scare off pigeons, starlings and sea gulls, and have done so all over the country.
They’ve prevented bird poop from marring paint on B-2 bombers, unroosted starlings from a chemical plant in Philadelphia, and dispersed sea gulls at a Santa Barbara County dump that were responsible for polluting a beach, he boasts.
Other raptors in Diaz’s care will hunt and kill smaller birds when their master is contracted to have them do so.
Though he has not been hired by the City of Capitola, Diaz claims he and his falcons should be employed there to eradicate a long-standing water-pollution problem caused by sea gulls.
Diaz’s standard fee is $65 to $75 an hour, though he says he offered the city a good deal. He has been pursuing the arrangement now for two years.
"He calls every couple months," says Steve Jesberg, city public works director. "But we have no active interest. He just hasn’t gotten that message."
According to Jesberg, Diaz wanted too much money for the project, and asked for housing both for himself and his birds.
"It was, frankly, bizarre," Jesberg says. "I don’t know what else to say."
Currently, Diaz splits his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and a spot outside Santa Barbara. He says he plans to move to Davenport within the next few weeks.
Capitola officials have decided to battle pollution at the mouth of Soquel Creek by constructing a wetlands area adjacent to the waterway. Pollutants from bird droppings would theoretically be filtered before reaching the water.
City officials are expecting word next week about grant money for the project. They also are awaiting the necessary permits, Jesberg says.
As for the falcon training Diaz has been conducting on the beach, Jesberg says he thinks the activities are permissible.
Back in the Metro parking lot, Diaz apologizes to the woman he has startled with his efforts to scare crows.
Both the woman and her chihuahua continue to glower. The woman has seen and heard enough. She goes home and calls police.
The encounter with law enforcement officials turns out to be friendly.
Police and fire departments, as well as animal shelters and county agencies, were notified earlier in the week about the missing falcon, and Diaz has posted fliers throughout the area.
Thus far, he has received notice of three sightings — two from residents and one from a firefighter.
Jake’s recovery is worth a sizable reward, his owner says, though he would not name the figure.
The bird is about the same size as an average sea gull, and he still had leather strings attached to his feet. Diaz says he is worried the strings could get him tangled and kill him.
Like everything else concerning his birds, retrieving the young falcon is likely to be complicated.
"They’re more work than horses and boats put together," he says. "But they’re like my family. It’s pathetic, but that’s my life."
Diaz asked that anyone with information about the missing bird call him at (805) 698-5757.
Contact Nancy Pasternack at npasternack@santacruzsentinel.com.
You can find this story online at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/October/15/local/stories/03local.htm
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