The Hawk Lady of Los Altos
by Doug Hammond, Long Beach Beachcomber,
Most people enraptured with the idea of flying in California end up with a pilot’s license. But for Lori Prichard Beller, mother of three school-age children and one of only 300 licensed falconers in California, flight is a more vicarious experience.
She has finished her two-year apprenticeship and is in her first year as a general falconer with four years to go until she becomes a master falconer.
It is hard to imagine a more improbable sight in Los Altos than that of this trim athletic woman standing in the suburban twilight of her front yard, an imposing hooded bird of prey named Valor perched on her leather-gloved hand.
Beller has always loved birds. “At my children’s elementary school I heard about a small American Kestrel falcon that was coming to the custodian and I started going to the school there at six in the morning and it was coming to me as long as I held out a little mealworm. It was just the most majestic feeling to have this wild bird coming to you!”
Beller, who is also a state women’s longbow champion, went online and looked into the California Hawking Club and made some inquiries. She wondered, “Is this good for the birds?” She was worried initially about the loss of their natural and well-warranted fear of humans.
But as falconry is considered a form of hunting in California and highly regulated (like everything else in the state) she dived into the series of tests required of licensed falconers. An experienced sponsor is required and Beller was fortunate to find one in Long Beach. Hunting and gun safety courses followed.
“Falconers have to follow the same rules as general hunters as far as to where we are allowed to hunt. We have to know all about the various hunting seasons and restrictions.”
Beller caught her female red-tailed hawk, Valor, in Sand Canyon, “where there’s still some agriculture left.” She placed a rat in a cage covered in small nooses of monofilament fishing line out in an open field. As hawks catch prey with their talons, her fledgling became entangled in the filament line, the weighted cage too heavy to carry off.
There is a different bond at play when hunting with hawks and falcons.
There’s no hand or face licking. The level of companionship is a bit different with the birds of prey. Though some falconers do use dogs to help flush out the rabbits, Beller does not, citing space limitations. As Valor flies high above the field in lazy circles Beller beats the brush and tumbleweeds below.
According to Beller, the birds come to accept humans as partners in their hunt. Humans, in turn, get to enter nature’s circle becoming intimately familiar with not only predator but with the habitat and habits of their prey as well.
Despite ferocious looking talons and an eagle’s gaze, Valor is surprisingly gentle and still somewhat shy of humans. She is a “passage bird” (meaning a bird less than a year old that has been on its own for at least six months) and she assumes a defensive posture when set down, back to the ground, talons up, motionless.
Red-tail hawks can live 35 years in captivity compared with a survival rate of only 20 percent in the wild. Natural hazards include other red-tails, which are extremely territorial, eagles, foxes and coyotes. Even the kick of a jackrabbit or the bite of a squirrel can cripple a hawk. “The biggest threat of all is power lines. More large birds of prey are killed this way.”
As to human hunting of the birds, “dult birds are illegal to trap. They have found mates and established territories. They are a protected species and you’re not supposed to shoot or catch them without licensing. Those that are licensed care for these birds tremendously.”
Feeding time is not handled by a quick trip to Petco. Beller drives to San Diego to pick up quail in bulk, buying 100 at a time. “I buy frozen quail and you just warm it up (don’t cook it she advises) like your own food. It costs about $1.30 per quail.”
As to why Beller chose hawks over, say, a parakeet, she explained, “I think there is a lot of truth to the idea that people choose pets that are like themselves. I look at my first bird and I feel like there is a connection. I’m so much like her and there is a bond in that sense. Ever since I was a very young child I wanted to fly and I knew I was going to. When they fly, I feel like I’m flying.”
Beller usually takes Valor out to hunt in Ontario. “It’s still in a building-out stage but there are still some fields left. I used to go out to Cal State Dominguez Hills. They had some fields but now they’re gone. In fact, it’s really sad but there was a red-tail nest right on campus near the Agricultural center and now it’s just a parking lot.”
Asked if this is a life-long relationship with Valor, Beller replied, “No. I do intend to release her. I want her to have her own family. Hawks mate for life and I want her to experience that so I will release her in one to two years. I’m only allowed to have two birds on my license and after that I was thinking about training an owl.”
For those interested in falconry, www.calhawkingclub.org has general and apprenticeship information, photos, forums and much more.
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