Hello From Sénégal

[Baks]

Hello guys,
I'm a farmer living in Sénégal (West Africa) who's been interested in raptors for years now (essentially doing some birding).I've decided (now that I have the time..) to learn seriously about falconry before eventually acquiring a bird next year.I've contacted Nigel Hawkins to book a a week long training in 2021 and I'm reading various books at the moment and also of course this forum which is a real gold mine !
All the Best to all

Bakary

[falconrydope]

Welcome, I'm kind of new myself. Yes it is a gold mine but one that get better if shared. Sounds like you will be getting a good start. There are a lot of knowledgeable and polite people here! Also if you have a problem, you can get a few ideas to deal with it quickly.
Ron

[goshawkr]

Hello guys,
I'm a farmer living in Sénégal (West Africa) who's been interested in raptors for years now (essentially doing some birding).I've decided (now that I have the time..) to learn seriously about falconry before eventually acquiring a bird next year.I've contacted Nigel Hawkins to book a a week long training in 2021 and I'm reading various books at the moment and also of course this forum which is a real gold mine !
All the Best to all

Bakary

Bakary,

Is there any history of falconry en Senegal that you know of? All the falconry in Africa that I am aware of are from the areas influencedy by the Arabian culture North of the Sahara or from the areas colonized by the British - chiefly South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Senegal is a very interesting place....look forward to hearing about your journey if you take it up.

Oh, and welcome!

[Baks]

Hey Guys,
Senegal is indeed an interesting place regarding birds in general and raptors in particular mainly because it's one of the main stop in migration just after crossing the desert.We have for example the world biggest dormitory for Kestrels not to mention the regular presence of lots of eagles (Bonelli,Hawk Eagle...). However we don't have any falconry tradition to my knowledge, the closest I'm aware of is in Morocco.Falconers from Arab countries come to hunt in Sudan also and of course there is a very active community in South-Africa.
I will definitely keep you guys posted on my "peregrinations" and ask for advices from time to time.

All the Best

[SAFalconer]

Nice to see a fellow falconer from Africa.

[Baks]

Thanks Ryan, although it's a bit premature to refer to me as a falconer for the time being I'm more a student of the art for now....but sure intend to get there !

[ehh]

What sort of game animals do you have there? That's the first thing to think about.

[Baks]

rabbit, pigeons,crested francolins,guinea fowls, all kinds of rodents, foxes...that's just at the farm...Senegal has been a hunting destination for French hunter for a long time...but I don't have that much open spaces (for that I have to take the car..and ride a few miles...). So it should be a good place for a Harris Hawk or a goshawk (not a beginner's bird I know...)

[PeteJ]

Hi Baks. You have several quite qualified raptors available there. One that is common enough and also quite useful for many common quarries such pigeons, doves, francolins (if not the larger ones), and is a bird that is quite coveted in the west....the Red-necked Falcon. Quite similar to our Merlin but more heat resistant and similar hunting tactics and style. It has the additional advantage in that it can be hunted in pairs (either two females, male and female, two males). They have nice temperaments and are relatively hardy. I was part of a group that put together a mission to acquire some of the first ones of the African race about a decade ago. Another mission went after, but did not do as well in keeping the birds alive after they arrived than the initial group. Some of them are still being bred today here. In the past many of the Asian race were sent over from India in large quantities as they were considered cheap. Few of those amounted to anything here at that time as our knowledge of small falcons was very limited at that time compared to now. Another small one that might be fun for you given your lack of open space might be the diminutive Gabar Goshawk. I suspect they might also be native to your area (I haven't checked a range map recently), but they often occur in the same areas the Red-necked Falcon and they have a bit of relationship with each other as they benefit from being near each other. The Gabar Goshawk presence makes prey birds flee from bushes ahead of the approaching hawk, but the presence of the Red-necked Falcon tends to make the same prey birds want to seek cover from the approaching falcon. Another, the African Goshawk is said to be very reliable as a hunter, although it not anywhere as big as our northern Goshawk. I think they might be similar to our Cooper's Hawk in size, perhaps a bit larger and more sturdy. The larger Black Sparrowhawk is perhaps in your region as well, but in discussions about them on here, they might not be something to start your practice with. In general the Falcons tend to have open country requirements unless they are smaller falcons, which can mean a lot of driving to get to suitable areas. If your area is more cluttered with trees ands shrubs then perhaps look into learning more about African Goshawk (Accipiter tachiro) , Gabar Goshawk (Micronisus gabar niger), and Red-necked Falcon (Falco ruficollis). Welcome to NAFEX and enjoy your investigation.

[Baks]

Hello Pete, many thanks for your message. The Red-necked Falcon , African Goshawk and the Gabar are definitely on my list...I have some serious birding ahead of me...I spotted one Gabar (I think ) last year in the residence ( it's a wooded area) eating a passerine ! Gabar and African Goshawk are beginner 's bird in South-Africa however the one I'm thinking hard about is the Black Sparrowhawk (also called the the Black Goshawk..) I did find a breeder in Spain who is breeding hybrid Northern Gosh x Black Sparrowhawks..
Are you a biologist ? hope to see you sometimes in your next mission in Africa ! Thanks again

[PeteJ]

Hi Bak, Yes a biologist here, although retired now. Just flying birds and breeding some unusual ones here and there. And yes, the Black Spar is the one that can be a bit difficult. The truth is none of them are exactly easy (except perhaps the Harris' Hawk), but some of them are much more reactive than others which can make training, handling, and flying difficult. I have had quite a long distance love affair with the Red-necked Falcon and the Gabar Goshawk for some time now. Our prey base is becoming less reliable on the upper end quarries and where I live there were never many to begin with (ducks on migration, jackrabbits and cotton-tailed rabbits) and their numbers frequently make wide swings based on how much rain we've gotten and/or how much cold weather is occurring in the north where the ducks come from. So after years of flying Goshawks on rabbits, jackrabbits and larger birds, I have now shifted into the smaller quarry base of two species of Quail and several species of Doves with smaller falcons and smaller hawks. Many of the birds I have focused on lately have had origins in Africa because our climate locally is quite similar...mild winters for the most part, and hot to very hot spring, summer and fall. I have flown several Barbary Falcons, the tiercels are a favorite, and also Teita Falcons (beautiful flyers but not all that practical for falconry due to their preferred hunting strategy....prey birds that are high in the air, difficult to replicate by a land anchored human). I currently fly a hybrid of the Barbary and Teita. And I like the tiercel Cooper's Hawk for its smaller size and it's preference for small bird quarry...they absolutely love quail! I would love to get some Gabar Goshawks into our country, but I don't see that happening while I'm still able to get out into the field (I'm in my early 60s now). I look forward to hearing about your adventures with them at some point.

[Baks]

Hi Pete,
Do you have (non confidential) datas ,notes on your trapping expedition in Senegal ? As you may know we don't really have a very active birding community here ( to say the least..) The real birder we had (Bram Piot) just move out to Laos...
If I can catch a Gabar may be we can organize a shipment to the US. Would that be a problem from the regulations point of view ? I can check on my side , as far as I know Gabar is not an endangered species..
If you can direct me for on any good academic papers on those species, I'm all for it...

[PeteJ]

Baks, Currently the process for us on our end is brutal. It can be done but its all about meeting deadlines and such for the permits. Nice of you to offer though. The friend that was our point man in the field took a few different traps that I made just in case the conditions warranted different traps for different vegetation issues. As I wasn't even there it took a bit of coordination but we sent him with enough various equipment that when he got into them finally (long long story that began by landing at Dakar, then another leg down to Guinea where our original permit was for). But after being mislead by the locals in Guinea (lost some money on that deal) eventually he went up to Mali to investigate further, even though all the photos we were seeing by birders were for places in Senegal. Eventually we had to override my partner at that time, and my friend and I knew that the birds would be in Senegal. He found them within an hour of Dakar several weeks after landing in Dakar in the first place, and acquired the ten birds for our permit within about a week. Such a waste of time and money all the rest of the trip, but success in the end. He got the individual transport boxes built locally to falconry specifications and all of the birds were shipped as one unit (kept the logistics down). They arrived in New York and the quarantine station in perfect shape and weathered the quarantine with not even a tipped feather, as we had the rooms set up to our specifications ahead of time. For trapping he found that the bal-chatri worked the best, baited with a few of the local finches which he live trapped fairly easily near villages. Often he would get more than one falcon on the trap as some of them were in family groups still, so young would join in the hunt with the adults. We tried to get enough individuals from different pairs so the blood lines could be well mixed for years to come. I think some of the birds did come from the area around where you are, the others came from around M'Bour. If you check on Google you may find links to various birding observation sites that will give you sometimes pretty good gps locations of where birds were seen and when. Often raptors are in a particular area because it suits them and as long as the area doesn't undergo some sort of major upset (like cutting of forest or perhaps extended drought or conversion from scrub to agriculture) then the birds will be there for hundreds of years in succession. Once you figure out what environment they prefer it is quite easy to pinpoint where they are. When you develop and eye for that sort of interaction (raptor to habitat type) you were be well on your way to learning where and when they will be there. It also plays into how you develop a bird for your falconry practice because, while they are flexible in regard to some of their hunting tactics, they are still limited somewhat by their physicality and some are just better suited to a particular environmental structure than others.

[goshawkr]

Bak,

Another good thing to consider as an introductory bird, especially if you do not have the ability to get some in person coaching and mentorship is to work with one of the many Aftican buteos to get a basic foundation on how to motivate and train a hawk, and then move onto something more exciting to you.

[Baks]

Hello Geoff,
yes I've thought of that...but I'd rather err on the side of caution here.What I mean is that I would prefer to choose a bird that is ALREADY confirmed as suitable for falconry (South-Africa could be a great help here since we share a lots of raptors..).And I will definitely find a mentor, Nigel Hawkins includes in his training package an annual mentoring after the training that I shall do with him next year.The question I'm asking myself is shall I get a Harris Hawk as a first bird OR just go for the red-necked falcon and Gabar Goshawk ? the HH is not present in Senegal but the weather and local conditions would be perfect for him AND there is a HUGE amount of technical informations and expertise available ( I'm reading a bunch of books at the moment and waiting eagerly for my copies of the Colson's and McElroy's books).At the other end of the spectrum I have the RN Falcon and the Gabar whom are present locally , easy to train bird (south-africana sources) but for which available datas are very scarce. I could have with them a "complete" basic education starting with trapping my own bird.. Thanks for your input

[Baks]

Thanks Pete, I got it...eBird is a fantastic resource ! in which period of the year did the mission take place ? winter or wet season ?

[PeteJ]

They arrived here in April, so it would have been March when it all took place. Many of them were in family groups with young that were already flying around.