By Joe Atkinson
I caught my first jackrabbit with a trained golden eagle in 1976. I can remember that fight as if it were yesterday. Little did I know that that single flight would send me on a path flying and training eagles all over the world, the most notable being the Philippine Eagle, the rarest eagle in the world, formerly called the Monkey Eating Eagle, a name that I think is much more descriptive of the nature of this massive predator. My wife, Cordi, and I were deeply touched to have the opportunity to train and fly this stunning eagle in the jungle of the Philippines, something we will never forget.
Over the last forty years I have trained and hunted with dozens of golden eagles for release, the vast majority being young passage eagles that found their way into rehab centers. Nursing a young eagle that comes into a rehab center back to health is only half the battle. These eagles have not had the opportunity to learn survival skills from their parents and, without being flown by a competent falconer, have very little chance to survive upon release. The single most important skill young eagles must perfect is soaring. Without this skill, chances that they can find food and water are very small and, sadly, the vast majority of eagles released without being flown will die.
Training a golden eagle is not rocket science if you understand what you’re dealing with and are willing to put in the time. Golden eagles are highly intelligent and extremely powerful. Over the years, I’ve been told many times by falconers wanting to fly an eagle, “Oh, I have a huge female Harris’ Hawk or Red Tail with big feet so I know what it’s like to handle and fly a big bird”. Well, actually, you don’t. There is no comparison between Harris’ Hawks or Red Tails or any other falconry bird, for that matter, to a golden eagle, period. Not in size, power, or intelligence.
The biggest problem when someone gets an eagle is that they try and train it like any other raptor and that leads to problems. Golden eagles will quickly figure out if you’re a friend or foe and will act accordingly. The fastest way to get on the friend side is through food. Not withholding food but simply feeding the eagle and leaving it alone. By housing the new eagle in a safe place with as many of the outside scary things removed from sight, you can work your way into the eagle’s life. The old way of manning, where a falconer forces the eagle to sit on the glove and be with them, is going down a road that will, in most cases, cause harmful stress and possibly death. Plus, if you think you can hold your first eagle on your fist for long periods of time, you are mistaken. Don’t believe me? Then take a 9-pound weight, tie it to your glove, and see how long you can hold it up as if there was an eagle sitting on your fist. I’ll wait.
Golden eagles require a few things in order to become a hunting partner. If these requirements are met, the lucky falconer is in for the ride of a lifetime. Regardless of how you plan to hunt your eagle, off-the-fist or soaring, you need access to suitable land that has game, the most popular game to hunt being jackrabbits. Hunting off-the- fist is more adaptable because you can hunt just about anywhere, including small fields that hold jacks. I have hunted my fair share of fields that were nothing more than empty lots in between fast-food restaurants (excuse me, good food prepared fast), not the most eye pleasing environment but, hey, you gotta go where the game is, right! Flying an eagle in these small lots surrounded by humanity, however, has a list of drawbacks. I’ve had eagles chase dogs, cats and chase jackrabbits across busy roads thru parking lots and under parked cars. None of this makes for a pleasant hawking experience. The best advice I can give you regarding small lot flying is don’t try it until your eagle is very steady and you should always thoroughly scan the field before entering.
There are two other ways to fly a trained golden eagle. First, slope soaring, letting your eagle fly along the side of a hill, riding the up-wind like a surfer rides a wave. This method is tons of fun and allows the eagle to hunt in a more natural manor. The only drawback is when you run out of game to flush on the hill. Slope soaring is easier to accomplish because any eagle will slope soar pretty quickly but, like I said, you are limited to the area around the hill and the amount of game there.
The second method is thermal soaring. This differs from slope soaring because the eagle is waiting-on over you like a giant black shark, riding the thermals, waiting for the flush. With an eagle that will wait-on you are not limited to anywhere, but you do need access to eagle country. Eagle country can best be described as wide-open grasslands or sagebrush, usually with few trees, surrounded by mountains and plenty of game, i.e., jackrabbits. Thermal soaring a golden eagle, in my opinion, is the highest form of eagle falconry a falconer can achieve. If given the opportunity, eagles will at times soar to staggering heights; the trick is to keep them around. My female golden eagle, Widow, went up to 12,344 ft and stooped to the lure at 167mph, impressive numbers, no doubt.
Soaring is the most natural way to hunt an eagle and the most rewarding, for both the eagle and the falconer. I started Widow waiting-on by going up on top of a large hill, actually more like a small mountain. I would launch her off and she’d go out, coursing back and forth. After a while, when she’d begin to circle over me, I would immediately throw out the lure, rewarding her for going up and staying around. I would then trade her off using just enough food to get her attention, launch her again, and repeat the training until she was getting full. In short order she began to look for thermals in order to get up and come back over to be thrown the lure. I then moved to areas that had hills for updrafts and large flat areas that held jacks.
In my neck of the woods, which is the high desert of eastern Oregon, sagebrush is the dominate plant. The sage provides food and cover for all the creatures that live here, in particular, jackrabbits. Jackrabbits are masters at using the sage as cover and can vanish quickly, which is a good skill to have seeing that everything wants to eat jackrabbits. I found out rather quickly that walking around out in the sage, hoping to flush a jack with my eagle overhead, was not going to happen. Jackrabbits will not flush when an eagle is present and the ones that do flush disappear in the sage instantly. I complained (whined) to Cordi that I’d have to set the entire hillside on fire to get anything to move under my eagle. What I needed were fast dogs, ones that would keep the jacks moving long enough for my eagle to have a shot. My two ranch dogs, try as they did, just were not fast enough to pressure the jacks. I needed more speed! Also, the dogs needed to be large enough that my eagle would not look to eat one, which would ruin the experience and be a little difficult to explain to Cordi. “Joe, where is my dog?” “Funny you should ask that, dear…….”
After Cordi and I visited the UAE for a Falconry Festival we saw the dog breed called a Saluki. We thought they were very cool looking dogs and might be the answer to my problem. After we returned home, I began to search the internet for Saluki breeders and in my search I discovered the Tazi. Each region in the Middle East has its slightly different version of Saluki and the Tazi comes from Kazakhstan. And the cool part is they are bred to hunt with eagles. Well, that settled it! I had to have one!
The Tazi met all my requirements. They are large enough that my eagle should not go after them, they are sight hounds, meaning they are bred to chase stuff and, most importantly, are freakishly fast. I have had dogs my entire life, hunting dogs, ranch working dogs, as well as many other breeds, dogs that could run and keep up with cattle, horses, and give the occasional deer a good run for its money, but my knowledge of sight hounds and their ability to run fast was limited. The Tazi is on a different level from anything I have witnessed, much faster and extremely athletic. As an example, Zeva, our first Tazi, jumped the entire span of our water irrigation canal, eleven feet across, like it was nothing. Khan, our male, is the fastest of the three Tazi’s we have. Cordi calls Khan the cheetah dog and he’s very capable of catching jacks by himself.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried the first few times when eagle, dogs and jackrabbit all came together at the same time. Widow has stooped on coyotes, so there was some concern about introducing dogs to the team. After all, she is a female eagle. To both Cordi’s and my surprise, adding the dogs was totally uneventful. In fact, we were amazed at how fast the eagle and dogs figured out that one benefits the other and to hunt as a team. I am sure that at some point there have been close calls out of my sight, where Widow has laid down the law. Our three Tazi’s are very respectful of Widow when she is on the ground; they keep a safe distance and a close eye on her.
Widow will stay in the air for two hours plus, circling over our heads, waiting for a flush. If a flush happens and she misses, she’ll go back up and we start hunting again. Most times it’s me or the dogs that bottom out first if they have had multiple long runs. I fly in the spring and summer so the heat can be an issue as well.
Our eagles have been featured on many nature shows, too many to list here, but one, in particular, is a favorite.
We got a call from Cornell Lab of Ornithology wanting to talk about using one of our eagles in a film they wanted to make about the Sagebrush environment and the creatures that live there, with the sage grouse and golden eagle being the main focus. Over the years we have had so many requests to film our eagles, with some really cool ones and then others not so much, that I will admit I have become a little casual when listening to the producer’s pitch. Even though it was Cornell Lab of O calling, I wasn’t totally connected to the conversation until they said “Oh, and one of the scenes we want is of your eagle catching a sage grouse”…..wait, WHAT!? That got my attention. We’ll do it!
I spent weeks tuning Widow up, having her switch over from looking for jackrabbits to flying at sage grouse. Well, I didn’t have any grouse, but I did have access to very dark colored hen pheasants, not as big as sage grouse but size isn’t much of an issue with eagles anyway. With Widow circling overhead, I would walk out into the sagebrush and toss her good-flying pheasants which she took with little effort. I would trade her off and launch her off for another flight, up to five times, each time taking a pheasant. I wanted her as dialed in as possible, no room for error.
Cordi and I arrived in Pinedale, Wyoming and met up with the producers who we followed to the camp out in the desert. Cornell furnished us our own trailer and cook. Finally, the royal treatment! When flying falcons, your concern is eagles that want to eat your falcon, so flying in the early morning is theoretically the safest time, before the air has warmed up and eagles become more active. On the other hand, midday is perfect for flying eagles, lots of rising warm air. We thought, this is awesome, we can sleep in and have a nice breakfast before getting to work. Nope, we were informed that they wanted shots of the sun shining off the eagle’s back at daybreak. Please feel free to insert your choice of four-letter words for me here.
We left camp mid-morning, heading for places that were known to have sage grouse. There is something about Wyoming and flying birds there, either falcons or a golden eagle, that can be a little intimidating. The landscape of the high desert in eastern Oregon is very similar but in Wyoming everything just looks bigger, the weather is colder, and the wind blows harder. As the group wound its way through the open sage that stretches out as far as you can see in all directions, Cordi and I were last in the four-truck convoy. My thought was that by being last there would be less commotion around our truck when I pulled Widow out for her flight.
The plan was to have an experienced grouse dog find a grouse point, then set up the cameras and release Widow. I spent considerable time reassuring John, the dog’s owner, that Widow probably wouldn’t kill his dog. But she is a female golden eagle, so nothing was guaranteed. For the dog’s well-being, we decided that once she was on a point, John would call her back and load her in his truck. A much safer plan. As we drove along all eyes were intensely watching John’s dog as she searched for fresh grouse scent. And then, boom, she locked up on point. We all stopped and backed up a good ways so as not to flush the grouse.
At some point, I remember Cordi telling me to just breathe, take a few deep breaths, try not to hyperventilate, which I was well on my way to doing. The thing is, to my understanding, no one has ever taken a sage grouse with a waiting-on golden eagle…ever. If, in fact, Widow caught one, who would believe it? Cordi told me, “Joe, it is going to be filmed by one of, if not the top, wildlife cinematographer in the world. I think they’ll believe it”.
Once we made a game plan, things like camera position and which direction I was going to flush the grouse, I asked the million-dollar question. “John, would you fly this point?” He said, “Yes, I would”, adding “As you know, nothing is for sure, but this point looks solid”. Good, that was enough for me. It’s go time! I reminded everyone, once again, about Widow’s routine. She would jump off my fist, land on a sage bush close by, and look for a suitable thermal. This process could take three minutes or thirty minutes, she won’t be rushed. The conditions that day were ideal, blue sky with temps warming up and a hint of a breeze. Widow sat looking around.
Widow’s been filmed many times and pays all on-lookers little notice. Cordi and I stood by the tailgate of our truck and watched her. We know her body language and can usually tell when she is going to take off. We were on the radios giving the crew up to the second updates so they would be ready to roll cameras when she launched.
Widow did a very vigorous rouse, sending dust and a few down feathers drifting up into the air. Cordi and I looked at each other and smiled, we both knew the lift was there and Widow would find it. Widow tightened all her feathers, leaned forward, and pushed off the sage bush. She flew directly over the area where John’s dog was on point and kept going for a mile or more. Everyone watched with binoculars as Widow found the lift she was looking for and began to circle. Climbing with each circle, she was gaining height fast. In what seemed like only seconds, Widow was just about to speck out. This was pre-GPS, all we had was traditional telemetry, and the signal was getting weaker. No longer able to see Widow through the bino’s, I started to worry. I had moved out into the sage, inching closer to where the grouse might be, hearing Cordi over the radio say that she had no signal. I just stood there in silence. Well, very quickly, this flight had gone from total excitement to recovery mode of my eagle.
Wyoming never looked bigger to me than at that moment, with my eagle somewhere up in the stratosphere and no signal. I figured I’d start tossing the lure in a way as not to flush the grouse. I couldn’t believe it would still be there anyway at this point. I tossed the lure behind me a couple of times, dragging it a few feet each time. On the fourth toss, I heard Cordi’s voice over the radio, “I have a faint signal. She is way up there overhead, but it’s getting stronger” The next communication was, “We have her in view. She’s behind us, coming almost dead overhead”. I could hear the beep, beep from the telemetry receiver as Cordi was talking. Looking up into the blue sky I finally spotted Widow, a tiny black dot coming right over me, bless her heart. The next thing I heard over the radio was that she was too high to film effectively. I tossed out the lure a few more times and could see that Widow was in a full tuck, stooping. She was coming in hot. When she got to what I thought was a filmable height, I pulled the lure and hid it in my hawking vest, causing Widow to pull out of her stoop and begin circling over me. I am sure, at this point, I completely stopped breathing. Moving closer to flush the grouse that I hoped was still there, I glanced over my shoulder to check on Widow’s position. Good, she’s still there. Wait, why is there a raven diving at her head? What the ****?? The raven was, without mercy, going after my eagle’s head, causing Widow to make evasive maneuvers to keep from getting hit. With that said, Widow didn’t seem too bothered, so I moved closer and started to clap my hands, hoping to flush a grouse.
With the stupid raven dive-bombing her head, Widow did her best to maintain her position over my head. I ran to the spot where we thought the grouse were and three sage grouse flushed. Looking up at Widow, I could tell she was now clearly bothered by the relentless attack from the raven. As the grouse flew off, my heart sank. Widow was mounting up, trying to leave the raven behind, who was now drifting off to go bother something else, no doubt. With sage grouse there are nearly always one or two birds that don’t flush so I continued to clap my hands and move around, looking. Sure enough, two more grouse flushed. Widow broke off her circling and started to track over the top of the grouse. Just as my dream was about to come true, back came Mr. Raven, going right for Widow’s head once more. Widow was understandably annoyed, pulled off the sage grouse, and specked out. No signal, she was gone! I just started walking back to the truck, knowing this would be a long day.
Four hours later, after driving over the top of a mountain and somehow getting to the other side, I stood adjusting the receiver when Widow flashed past me and was on the lure. She had a full crop, so had fed up on something. Sadly, it wasn’t the raven. When we returned to the crew, even though I said the amount of food she had eaten would not affect tomorrow’s grouse flight, we were told, “Sorry, the flight list doesn’t allow for another try at grouse”. I was so close!!
The film is called “The Sagebrush Sea”. It is a beautiful film, well worth watching.
Good hawking.