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Flying Demonstrations

The Hawk Conservancy Trust is well known for the flying displays which take place each day during the open season. There are three flying displays each day at 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. All the demonstrations are different. Many visitors arrive and watch the 12 o'clock demonstration. Sadly they often do not realise the others are quite different and they promptly go home! Whilst many of our regular visitors enjoy watching the long serving members of the team, each season we try to add some new players to the team. A fresh face (or faces) not only adds variety to the demonstrations, but also it can mean that things don't always go according to plan!
For those people who have not seen our demonstrations before, and for our regular visitors and members, it might appear that the demonstration birds are programmed. They almost always do as they are asked on cue, and occasionally are one step ahead. In fact, flying the birds often appears very easy. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Hawk Conservancy Trust prides itself on giving demonstrations that appear seamless and run very smoothly but this can be difficult to achieve.
Training birds of prey can be an extremely complex activity that takes many patient hours, days, months and, in some cases, years. To gain the confidence of a particular bird can be very difficult, and training for demonstrations often means that the bird will be asked to do things other than just 'fly'. Weaving in and out through obstacles, catching in the air, chasing artificial quarry and working with other animals are all part of being in the flying team. Once the bird has become familiar with such things, it must then be prepared to cope with up to 1,000 people watching, clapping or laughing. By realising that birds are inherently frightened by people, it is easy to see how long it can take to make a new bird comfortable with the demonstration environment.
Some of our demonstration birds thrive on routine. If something happens to disrupt this routine, they will often 'shut down' completely. Occasionally the disruption might be entirely in the mind of the bird. Some of the owls on our team will sometimes do this. It is a common response to an unfamiliar situation, and the owl will sit very still and pretend to be invisible. When this occurs, it can make for a very long demonstration!
Other birds seem to perform better when asked to do something different each day. This is particularly the case with most falcons and eagles. These birds are usually given 'free time' to go off and do their own thing. Falcons are usually flown to a lure, and this is the traditional way they are exercised. If, however, one of our falcons has flown well by itself and reached a good pitch (height), we reward the falcon immediately. This rewards our visitors as well, because the result is usually a dramatic stoop, with the falcon reaching close to maximum speed. From our point of view this is remarkably refreshing. These birds will never fly the same way twice, and we believe this is important in terms of the birds not becoming 'stale' during their work. Many people ask why the birds don't just fly away. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the birds are trained. Secondly, from the bird's point of view, The Hawk Conservancy Trust is a good place to live - free food, shelter and protection. Lastly, birds of prey are (like most predators) quite lazy. The opportunity to only have to 'work' for a short time and then relax for the rest of the day is too good to miss!

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