What initially appears as an unassuming rural property between Rockwood and Acton is actually home to dozens of trained hawks, owls and other birds of prey used for animal control and the film industry.
Hawkeye Bird and Animal Control has offices around Ontario, but its location just outside Acton is home base for the falconry business started by Dan Frankian more than 35 years ago.
While the birds are mainly used for wildlife removal and pest control, the Acton location also offers a falconry experience where visitors get to see and learn about some birds of prey up close and try out some basic falconry.
Training a bird of prey isn’t too dissimilar to training any other kind of animal. Falconer Clarisa Griffin said getting a hawk or another bird to sit nicely on a gloved arm is simply a matter of spending time with the bird.
“When you first get the bird, they’re literally bouncing all over the place. When you first pick up a bird, they want nothing to do with you,” Griffin said. “You basically just hold on to the straps and sit there watching TV for like a week straight and they sit on your glove. They learn they either sit on the glove or they hang beneath it.”
From there, the birds get to know the falconers and will calm down. Some birds, even within the same species, seem to take to it better than others.
For example Buckshot, Hawkeye’s smallest Harris hawk, was more or less comfortable with her after being picked up twice. Ernie, another Harris hawk, took weeks of Griffin sitting with him to calm down and decide he wasn’t afraid.
Some are trained to the point where members of the public who book the falconry experience get a chance to hold the bird like Hilary, a 23-year-old Harris hawk.
Hilary followed a small group, going from perch to perch, walking in an open field area and would come to those who outstretched their arm in a certain way to get a small bite to eat on the glove.
Griffin explained this is similar to how they would do some animal control, with a handler walking in a field being followed by a bird of prey. The handler would start making noise to draw out any pests that would be taken care of by the bird.
More information and details about Hawkeye Bird and Animal Control can be found online.
