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page 14 s february 2008Crozet gazetteFalconers—continued from page 1Duane Zobrist disputed that number. Theywere on Zobrist’s 60-acre Canary Cottage farmjust south of downtown Crozet to share their falconryenthusiasm. Crozet lay under a damp grayblanket of stratocumulus clouds and the temperaturehovered slightly above freezing. Dusk wasnigh.More like 60 members, Zobrist said. His pointwas that the VFA has members who are not livingin Virginia. Of that 60 who are Virginians, thesetwo have lived along the same fence line for a fewyears now and never had any occasion to fly theirbirds together. Their meeting Jan. 26 was theirfirst. Master falconers are for the most part lonerswho are working one-on-one with their hawks.There is a world of patience and dedication toappreciate in seeing men achieve a relationshipwith a raptor like Zobrist and Markey have.“Us? We see at 26 frames per second,” saidZobrist authoritatively. There are essential facts,he meant to say, and once you comprehend them,you behold the nature of falconry. For him theview is sublime. “This goshawk sees at 200 framesper second. It detects a lot more motion.”His goshawk, an sleek aerial athlete streakedwith what look like black and white racing stripes,goes by the name “Big Guy.” He has bright goldenirises around his eyes, which seem to have theacuity of satellite cameras.“I want him to kill every day,” explainedZobrist. The prey is usually a chucker, a 10-ouncepartridge bred for shooting clubs, but also theperfect prey for training hunting birds. Zobristkeeps some two or three dozen on hand in clean,neat hutches.“When you come home with your bird, you’vehad a good day,” said Markey, trying to set a reasonablestandard for expectations. He was wearinga small pair of binoculars in a light chest harness.Markey lost his bird last year when it flewoff from his house on Haden Street towardGreenwood. It was found in Waynesboro, luckily,sitting aloft, vulnerable and in a miserable mood.Markey recovered it.Zobrist puts a radio telemetry device about thesize of a watch battery on his hawk’s leg. It sendsoff a homing signal, and a small bell is attached,too, but still the birds can be hard to spot or hearon the ground, even when they are relatively near.Zobrist lost a Lanner falcon, a Middle Easternbird, on Buck’s Elbow Mountain. He trackeddown the telemetry signal and at last found it asit was being devoured by a Red-tailed Hawk. Herecovered its carcass, the bell and the transmitter.Telemetry gear costs about $1,200 and Markeyhas put it off buying it. So far, he’s just been lucky,he agreed.Zobrist was getting Big Guy ready to show hisstuff. Big Guy flew frantically around his compound,distressing Markey. “This may not work,”he said softly. “He could be freaked.”But Zobrist calmed Big Guy, fed him a chickand the plan to release a chucker for him to chaseproceeded.“I’ve just had 40 minutes here with Duane andI’m full of ideas,” said Markey excitedly. Theyquickly jumped into falconer lingo to comparenotes. “He has seen so many different birds,”noted Markey with evident respect. They bandiedback and forth the names of falconers they knewand rare birds. They realized they had a bond.Markey tried to get involved in the sport as an8-year-old in New York. He sent off for a marshhawk he saw in an ad. It came in a box. His Dadmade him give it away. Then he started hangingout with master falconers, kicking up game fortheir birds.Zobrist has been hooked since he was introducedto it as a Tenderfoot Boy Scout. He gotinto it professionally in 1990 when he broughtover English master falconer Stuart Russell to behis tutor. “He’s the best I know,” said Zobrist.Zobrist’s son, also named Duane, runs theFalconry Academy at the Greenbriar Resort inWest Virginia. He has 46 raptors there as well as asecond school at the Homestead.Goshawks are a northern boreal forest bird,Zobrist said. They like cold weather. They’ll gofor ground or flying prey.“Goshawks are a lot more finicky,” observedMarkey. “Each bird has a prey spectrum and thenthere’s their personality. Mine doesn’t like snow.It will try to stay out of it.”“They’re doing what’s their nature,” he saidmatter-of-factly.“We’re dirt hawkers,” Markey said, drawing adistinction with Zobrist and the goshawk. “Wefly birds that kill things on the ground.”Duane Zobrist and his goshawk “Big Guy”“Big Guy” gets his reward
Crozet gazette february 2008 s page 15On a broad open hilltop, Zobrist placed thechucker in a trap that would spring open at aradio signal and catapult the chucker into the air.Once the Goshawk detected the partridge, as itdashed frantically for cover, it would launch inpursuit. In this set-up, the chucker’s chances ofreaching the protection of briars were small. ForBig Guy, this takedown was as tough as catchinga pop-up.The chucker dived under a small footbridge,the nearest refuge it found, and cowered in thegloom there. Big Guy lit on the deck above andthen shifted to the opposite rail to wait for thechucker to peek out. When it dared, he pouncedand captured it.As Zobrist arrived, he distracted the goshawkwith a chick carcass and dropped a small graytowel over the chucker. Once the chucker was outof his sight, the hawk assumed it had ceased toexist and he went instead to shredding and swallowingthe chick. The chicks are euthanzied malesthat come from hatcheries, which breed essentiallyto supply the need for hens after all. Thechucker was in good condition and Zobristtucked it in a pouch to release again.“They are trained to wait,” Zobrist said aboutthe goshawk’s forbearance. “They will pluck at theplumage, but never break into the kill.” That is agoal of their training. “You have to control thegame first. The bird won’t leave while it’s stillthere.”Hawks molt every spring and Zobrist freezesthe recaptured chuckers, most of which die, andthen uses them for the molting season diet whenhawks have even bigger energy needs. “You wantthem to have the best feathers possible,” Zobristexplained.There is a two-year apprenticeship under amaster falconer to do before a new falconer canqualify for the master falconer exam, a tough100-question test. Many spouses also do it toqualify legally to share the duties of maintainingthe birds. Falconers have to have a federal license,a state license and any appropriate local huntinglicense.A falconer’s first bird has to be trapped fromthe wild —typically it’s a red-tail or a kestrel—sothat if it becomes lost it will have a chance to survive.All training is based on food reward conditioning.Initially, it’s preferred that trapped birdslose weight so they will begin to see the offeredprey, the chucker, as the most certain meal. “Theart and practice of hawking can be learned only… by devoting one’s life to it,” the VFA warns thecontinued on page 17Kevin Markey after Ronan’s first-ever strike on flying game.
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Downtown Zoning Plan Drops Lumber Yard, West ... - Crozet Gazette

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