Tom has been a “Master Falconer” for 57 years and isn’t slowing down. He trains his falcons daily.
During the seasons Tom’s rents, out his falcons for bird abatement in grape vineyards and blue berry fields. The falcons keep starlings and other birds at bay away from the fruit while Tom’s falcons feast on the birds.
Tom, who is licensed to do so, once caught a Perrigin Falcon in the wild and had it trained and working for him in eleven days.
The second Perrigin Falcon I saw in training today was Cassius, a twenty-one-year-old. Tom said falcons don’t live that long in the wild anymore because of manmade obstacles such as wind turbine farms, chemicals, etc.
Tom put up his drone with bait and a parachute attached to the bait by a long cord. Cassius [mentioned earlier] was released and went up and up and up and out of sight. Tom told me, “Here he comes, he’s coming in, get ready with your camera.” Cassius came in, grabbed the bait then dove to the ground deploying the parachute. Tom said the parachute is to slow down the falcon before it lands to eat its catch. Perrigins dive for their pray at 200 miles per hour.
Tom Savory is a Falcon Whisperer.
The Purpose of Falconry Hood
The purpose of the falconry hood is to control the moments a trainer and bird of prey interact so that the bird recognizes the trainer’s role in positive and neutral moments and minimizes negative stimuli.
Extra pictures to close..
