In this episode Al talks to Ed Pitcher about his philosophical approach to falconry in general, and, how he prepares his birds for a life of hunting with him, in particular. We use his book, “the Flying of Falcons”, which he co-authored with Ricardo Velarde to structure topics of conversation. Ed recounts how he and Ricardo settled on the title for the book, and he defines some terms that the listeners may initially misunderstand (Self actualization, Genetic push, Predatory mindset, Wild mindset, Hunting mindset, and Fueling the motor). Ed then takes the listeners through his view of the developmental sequences, as follows:
1.1. Genetic Push
- urge to survive and reproduce achieved through predatory mindset
1.2. Early Development
- Skill and cognitive development is age-dependent
- nothing succeeds like success
- successful predators survive and reproduce
- successful predators are also sought after by falconers
- do everything to let your falcon succeed
1.3. Categorical Thinking
- concrete/categorical thinking is associated with early cognitive development
- negative experiences can cause fear response and may become fixed
- do everything to ensure new experiences are also positive
- positive interactions also become fixed
- positive concrete thinking is the precursor to trust and fidelity
1.4. Fear Factor
- some fear is good but avoid significant fear response when reclaiming a falcon
- sweet spot is tolerant but slightly fearful and slightly wild
- wild caught falcons are already self-actualized and are more fearful, captive-raised are not self-actualized but are less fearful
- use of water to gauge anticipatory behavior
1.5. Fidelity Factor
- fidelity factor is the propensity to repeat favored behaviors that lead to success which leads to increasing survival probability
- falcons show fidelity for hunting locations, roosting sites, nesting sites, prey species, wintering locations
- appealing to a falcon’s propensity to repeat favored behaviors that lead to success is an alternative strict weight control.
- contributes to the falcon managing it’s own weight
1.6. Trust
- stems from categorical thinking and fidelity
- leads to co-operative hunting, 2-way trust
- incorporate building of trust in management scheme.
Part 1 of this two-part episode ends with the Ed recounting the story of how a neglected falcon named Buddy reclaimed his status as a self actualized avian predator.
