Falconry and falconeering with snow owls

Falconry Equipment - Falconry Hoods

Why do falcons wear hoods?

Falcon with hoodFalcons wear hoods to keep them calm and ensure they are alert when the falconer needs it. A falcons sight is up to 10 times better than us humans. This means the bird of prey's visual stimulus and input is very high and it can see many potential prey targets long before us humans can. This means that a falconer may see a target and release the bird, however the bird has long seen something else that has it's fancy and goes it's own way after it's own target, or worse yet it is so frustrated at seeing so many target come and go, it just goes not want to go after prey anymore. The falconer goes not want this and keeps the falcon hooded until he sees the target he wants, then removes the hood and the close (falconers) target will immediately catch the falcons eye putting it into hunting mode with the falconers chosen target as prey. The falcons are also trained to go into hunting mode once the hood is removed.

A good falcon hood does not bother the bird of prey at all. It fits well, does not damage feathers or hamper breathing allows air circulation and does not under any circumstances come into contact with the falcons eyes.

This manner of working with falcons and eagles was learned many hundreds of years ago already. Which has lead to a rich falconry heritage in the art of hood making from all over the world.

Falconry Hood Design Information

WARNING: DO NOT USE THESE FALCONRY HOOD ILLUSTRATIONS AS TEMPLATE TO MAKE HOODS. These images serve to show the form of different types of falcon and eagle hoods. Under no circumstances should these be used to fabricate hoods for real living birds of prey.!

  • Traditional Dutch Falcon Hood Design
    Traditional Dutch Falconry Hood
  • Dutch Damascus Falcon Hood Design
    Dutch Damascus Falcon Hood Design
  • Dutch American Falcon Hood Design
    Dutch American Falcon Hood Design
  • Anglo-Indian Falcon Hood Design
    Anglo Indian Falcon Hood Design
  • Arabian Falcon Hood Design
    Arabian Falcon Hood Design
  • Turkmenistan Falcon Hood Design
    Turkmenistan Eagle Hood Design
  • Indian Falcon Hood Design
    Indian Falconry Hood Design
  • Afghanistan Hawk and Eagle Falcon Hood Design
    Afghanistan Hawking and Eagle Falconry Hood Design
  • Old Dutch Falcon Hood Design
    Old Dutch Falconry Hood Design
  • Rufter Falcon Hood Design
    Rufter Falconry Hood Design
  • Syrian-Arabian Falcon Hood Design
    Syrian-Arabian Falconry Hood Design

More falconry equipment images can be found at Falconry Equipment - Image Gallery

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