Culture: The Falcon

Hammad Al Mutairi

Care Coordination-Nursing

The hur falcon has been famous in the Arabian Peninsula since ancient times and is known by the inhabitants of the region as the best hunting bird. The people of the Arabian Peninsula have trusted the bird to help them earn a living for them and their families in a region with scarcity of food. They are skilled in selecting the best breeds of falcon for that purpose, rearing and training them for game hunting. Such selection is based on the capability of selected breeds to withstand the severe climatic and terrestrial conditions of the region.

Hur falcons vary in strength, appearance and endurance. They build their nests on rocky terrain, on trees or on the ground, using small tree branches and other plant materials. The bird is not accustomed to living in captivity: A skillful falconer must, therefore, treat it with utmost care during the days shortly after its capture, in order to save the bird from dying from the fear of captivity.

Falcons have a lifespan of 10 to 18 years, and command prices ranging from hundreds to millions of riyals. They are meat-eaters, i.e., pigeons, rabbits, and other fresh meat. In the Gulf region, hur falcons migrate during autumn from their original homes in the north to the south in search of warmth. As they avoid populated areas during their migration, falconers hunt them, using nets. The practice is tedious and requires great care and patience.

In their romantic poems, the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula used to compare the eyes of their beloved women (with respect to their circularity and fast movement) to those of a free falcon.

Reproduction:

The female lays about three to six eggs yearly, each hatching into a young bird that grows through stages referred to as the nadir, the leziz, the taba, and the mahgoor. The youngsters are usually white in color.

Characteristics:

The hur falcon is characterized by its ability to endure hunger and resist disease. It is highly valuable, especially if it is black-and-blond in color. It is famous for its rapid kick-off speed of 300km/hr, but this speed gradually declines with time. This bird is the best predator of all falcons; it is aware of its preys’ weak points and can venture up to 10 kilometers away from its nest during hunting season.

Nutrition:

The bird depends on pigeons and other tame birds when living wild, but with training it can attack rabbits and houbara birds. A professional falconer can train the bird to fly at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, which is usually enough to enable it to chase deer. The falcon is accustomed to catching its own food; falconers, therefore, utilize this advantage to train it for hunting. In some countries, the bird is reared as a tame animal and fed with rabbits and pigeons.

Varieties:

In the Arabian Peninsula, there are many varieties of hur falcon, including the Wakari, Al-Shaheen, the Honey Falcon, and the Deer Falcon.

The bird is also popular in other parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe. Known as the king of falcons, the hur falcon is one of the largest falcons known, with the female usually larger than the male.

The body of the falcon ranges in length between 47cm and 57cm. The bird is distinguishable by its unique colors that usually mix into each other. Falconers disagree about differentiating between the different types of hur falcons according to their colors and shapes, but they agree that the most usual types found in the Arabian Peninsula are:

1- Al-Safi (The Pure): The bird usually has a single color, i.e., without spots of other colors on the face, back or branching tail.

2- Al-Shami: This falcon is generally called Al-Shami if any of the characteristics of Al-Safi are lacking.

3- The Persian: This falcon is distinguishable by its wing feathers, which carry semicircular, regularly- distributed spots called Persian spots.

4- Al-Jaroodi, a spotted falcon: The spots are regularly distributed in two differently colored alternating lines from the front part of the shoulders to the branching tail.

5- The White: The color of the falcon is generally white. It is the one most preferred and valued by falconers. This type of falcon may belong to any of the above four varieties, with the spots being confined to the back in the Jaroodi.

Each of the above varieties has a number of colors, with the concentration of each color differing from one falcon to another.

Al-Jeeri Falcon:

This bird usually lives in the cold arctic regions. It is, therefore, not known widely among Arab falconers. The bird exists in many colors, including white, black, brown, and gray. It is ravenous and greedy, and fights its spouse and youngsters for food.

Al-Wakari Falcon:

This variety is widely known among falconers in the Arabian Peninsula. It is usually black, red or brown in color, with the head usually colored white or red. The bird is characterized by its acute vision, intuition and stubbornness. It is widely used for hunting due to its strength, fast speed, nimbleness and intelligence.

Al-Shaheen Falcon:

This is a small falcon prevalent in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and Iran. It is a migrating bird characterized by its fast speed and is feared by all other birds when it is in flight. Falconers believe mountainous shaheens are stronger than marine shaheens due to the harsh conditions of living in mountainous areas.

Honey Falcon:

This variety rarely flies to high altitudes and is usually seen walking. It feeds on insects, bee honey, small birds and eggs.

Deer Falcon:

These falcons are similar to shaheens in strength and ability to assault, but slower. They fly at low altitudes, catch prey in their claws and crush them to death. Falconers generally use them for hunting houbara and ducks.