Thèse--Stockholm. / Imprint on cover: Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell. Bibliography: p. [325]-330.

Issued also as thesis, Münster, 1963. / Bibliography: p. 154-157.

Thèse--Stockholm. / Imprint on cover: Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell. Bibliography: p. [325]-330.

Issued also as thesis, Münster, 1963. / Bibliography: p. 154-157.

This thesis is concerned with the relationships that develop between humans, birds of prey, prey animals and their environments in the practice of falconry. Falconry is a hunting practice in which humans and birds of prey develop a hunting companionship through which they learn to hunt in cooperation. Described by falconers as a way of life, falconry practice and the relationship to their birds take on a crucial role in their everyday lives. The research is based on fieldwork carried out over a period of three years largely in the UK, with shorter fieldtrips to Germany and Italy. Falconry practice raises many interesting questions about human-animal sociality and identity formation. Through the practice falconers learn how to 'lure' a bird into a relationship, as birds of prey cannot be forced to hunt and cooperate. When hunting the abilities of birds of prey are seen to be superior to those of the human being who becomes – if skilful enough – an assisting hunting companion. The careful attention necessary to establish a bonded relationship between falconer and falconry bird demands practices particular to falconry and involves a highly complex set of knowledge practices and methods. The establishment of this relationship depends on a fine balance between independence and dependence as well as wildness and tameness of the falconry bird that cannot be understood through conceptualising notions of 'the wild' and 'the tame' (or 'the domesticated') as opposites. Rather, the becoming of falcons and falconers through the practice allows moments of transformation of beings that resist familiar categories. This study of falconry challenges an anthropocentric mode of anthropological inquiry as it demands to open up the traditional focus of anthropology to also include nonhuman animals and to consider meaning making, sociality and knowledge production as co-constituted through the activities of humans and nonhuman animals. I focus on the practices involved in taming, training and hunting with birds of prey as well as in domestic breeding, arguing that it is important to see both humans and birds as well as predator and prey as active participants in mutually constitutive learning relationships. Focussing on processes of emergence in both becoming falconers and becoming falconry birds I develop the notion of beings-in-the-making, in order to emphasise that humans and birds grow in relation to each other through the co-responsive engagement in which they are involved. I further show how humans and nonhuman animals relate to the environment within which they engage, in which movements and forces of the weather play a central role. I use the term weathering to refer to the ways the weather influences the movements of human and nonhuman animals as well as being a medium of perception in which they are immersed. The landscape and the sky above are here not to be understood as two separate spheres divided by an interface but rather as caught up in a continuous process of transformation in which the lay of the land and the currents of the air are co-constituted. Finally, I suggest the perspective of creaturely ways to describe a mode of sociality that is constituted beyond the purely human sphere of interaction and to show that the sense of identity and belonging of both falconers and birds is not delineated by a fixed species identity but rather emerges out of the experiences and relationships that each living being develops throughout its life. Creaturely ways thus involves a focus on questions of ontogeny rather than ontology, which is crucial for understanding the mutually constitutive processes of meaning making, becoming and knowing in which falconers and falconry birds are involved. Through exploring the complex relationships involved in falconry practice and the consideration of humans and birds as active participants within them, this thesis makes an original contribution to anthropological studies of human-animal relationships. It further contributes to the development of a notion of more-thanhuman sociality that reaches beyond the idea of the social as confined to members of the same species. Moreover, the study contributes to the anthropology of learning and enskilment through analysing processes of knowledge making in their constitutive influence on the development of human and nonhuman ways of becoming. It further contributes to studies on the perception of the environment through considering the practitioner's perception and experience of the weather and currents of the air as they interplay with the ground below. Finally, this study makes a contribution to the as yet little studied field of 'modern' hunting practices and suggests a more nuanced approach of understanding the relationships of predator and prey they involve.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-166).

Feathers is a young adult novel about two knucklehead boys and a summer of mischief they share. Boots and Gopher, the two principal characters in Feathers, are twelve-year old boys who are fascinated by a loft of racing pigeons kept by a peculiar man living on the edge of their small town. The fascination leads them to steal a few pairs of pigeons in hopes of generating their own loft. Their plan is to release the adult pigeons back to the man's loft while Boots and Gopher keep the babies. In stealing the pigeons, they discover the man also houses falcons and hawks. Gopher becomes obsessed with falcons and begins a study of falconry. The obsession overrides better judgment and federal law, and the boys also steal a small kestrel falcon. They don't realize the gravity of the situation until a "wanted" poster is put up at the local feed store letting people know that a federal law has been broken. The story continues with the resolution of this conflict and the relationship that is developed between the young men and the old falconer. It is a story about consequences of seemingly simple acts; it also explores relationships between the boys and their parents, and between the boys and an unlikely mentor.

The thesis is focused on falconry lessons in primary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic. It introduces the theory of falconry: Past and Present, legislation, falconer and ethics, anatomy and physiology birds of prey, falconry equipment, protection of birds of prey and falconry contemporary significance. Suggests the possibilities that mediate falconry lessons in schools both within lessons and excursions. The thesis is the preparation and implementation of the above proposed teaching methods: Power Point presentations and worksheets aimed at training students in primary and secondary schools filled with falconry, falconer conversation and exemplary school excursion. Key words: falconry, field trips, power point, birds of prey

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2005. / UMI number: 3200047. Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-134). Also available on the Internet.

Wildlife trade is a significant factor affecting situation of some species in the wild. Especially its illegal part, which is also very profitable similarly as arms trade and drugs trade, may be fatal for some species. Today, birds of prey are one of the most often traded groups of birds in the world and falconry is the main driving force of this trade. Although development of methods of captive breeding of birds of prey was an important turning point for their protection, it was not able to fully suppress taking them from the wild. Until recently, the European market was a large consumer of imported birds but European Union policy makes imports, especially for wild birds, more and more difficult. Thus it supports another aspect which is historically rooted in this area, namely breeding. A keeping and captive breeding of birds of prey is increasing in Europe and it takes part in global market. The goal of this thesis was to analyse content and volume of the trade with live specimens of birds of prey within EU for period 2000-2017. In addition to the EU as a whole, data for the Czech Republic were also processed. The EU has proven to be an important exporter with an upward trend, whereas imports have been restricted, especially since 2006, and still decrease. In general, the most traded birds are hybrid falcons and also a Gyrfalcon which is determined by Middle East demand. Although there are almost only captive birds in European export, there still are wild birds in some imports, especially vultures from Guinea. The Czech Republic copies European trends more or less. It seems that there is more birds of Accipitriformes order in the intra-European trade than in the trade with third countries. It emerged that European legislations can have a significant impact on the trade, even in global terms. An unpleasant finding was that used sources (especially the CITES database) have to be taken with discretion because they contain many mistakes and inconsistencies which may dramatically affect the results.