A bird of prey to keep the gulls at bay

There are a lot of interesting ways to make a living.

Julia Staines chose a unique and often dirty career path as owner and operator of Free Bird Falconry.

Staines is paid to bring her hawks to the landfill three times a week to keep the massive colonies of seagulls away.

The seagulls get so thick they cause a hazard for the machine operators who have trouble seeing. They also drop garbage in nearby neighbourhoods, and just cause a mess in general.

The solution is one of Staines large hawks, typically a Red-Tailed Hawk named Honey, or a larger Harlan’s Red-Tailed Hawk. Staines says even the sight of her birds is usually enough to send the seagulls away in a panic.

“It is so effective because there actually is a chance of one of the gulls actually being caught, so that’s why it works better than a noise maker or decoy.” said Staines.

Staines says the process is simple, she lets one of her hawks go, it chases the seagulls away and then she sits the hawk in a high perch to keep the birds away.

If the seagulls do return Staines and her bird repeat the process.

The difficulty is in training the birds. Staines says it is an amazing process to see the transformation,

“What I love is earning the birds trust when you start with a bird that is afraid of you and you get to the point where you can release a bird and get it to come back to you, that is the most amazing feeling for me.”

Staines says the temperament of the hawks is similar to a cat, they respond primarily to food and don’t show quite the same loyalty as dogs.

She says the key to the relationship is some good old fashion bonding time,

“You have to earn their trust so there is a lot of just sitting with them watching TV, just walking around with them on your arm, walking around the backyard, just having them with you all the time so they realize they can trust you.”

Staines’ Hawks are so well trained that at the end of the day they fly right into the open window of her truck.

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