Take a dive into the high-flying world of falconry right here in Acton

Philip Decina retired early from a successful chiropractic career to become a falconer.

And no, that doesn’t mean he’s a hunter – quite the opposite.

Given his warm, gentle nature, the married family man is a passionate advocate for the work that goes on at Hawkeye - The Bird and Animal Control Specialists, located in the Acton countryside.

Birds of prey are used to scare, chase, or remove pest birds, including seagulls, geese, pigeons, sparrows and various other animals, in a natural and humane way, offering a permanent, guaranteed solution.

Hawkeye’s removal and control services help people avoid potential health hazards, costly damage to property, and loss of product and/or productivity that will occur when animal, bird and wildlife problems are not addressed. Their birds of prey have helped clear out mine shafts in Sudbury. Venus, a Siberian Eagle Owl, took just a few weeks to clean out the shafts that had been inhabited by various creatures, including bats.

Decina pointed to one example of how the birds of prey control and scare off “pest birds” like seagulls and pigeons from a Sarnia petroleum company’s facility, including rooftops of some of their buildings; at other locations they’ve helped remove nuisance birds where there was nearly six inches of bird feces built up on the rooftop from pigeons and seagulls, who made it their home.

Decina noted that dry dust from the bird droppings can become airborne and get into the building’s ventilation system, becoming a breathing hazard and health concern for employees. Big box stores, who have large goods and produce warehouses, have made use of Hawkeye’s commercial falconry services of bird and animal control.

After Hawkeye’s experts are finished, seagulls and pigeons very rarely return. “Those birds think, ‘I gotta leave, or that bird of prey is going to eventually kill me,’” Decina said of the raptors’ ability to ward off unwanted pest birds.Others in Hawkeye’s flock are used in the film industry, such as eagles, owls and hawks. They’ve appeared on television shows, from Reign to music videos, fashion magazines and even as part of the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre: The Exhibition 2010, when Frankian appeared with great horned owl Clucker.

Most satisfying for Hawkeye staff are the one-on-one and group experiences they offer at their Acton site. Nothing quite beats the opportunity to view these beautiful raptors up close and see them fly in to a guest's leather-gloved hand for a snack. Relatively few people can say that they've had the experience; it’s something to see a golden chest, dark wings, a fan of tail feathers, and, sometimes, a murderous glare in their piercing, orange eyes. 

Decina, one of 17 staff at one of Canada’s few bird-abatement specialists, a falconer himself, trains the birds of prey (hawks, owls, falcons, eagles) - something that requires time, patience and the establishment of a trusting relationship. The depth of his bond with the raptors is obvious – his look of absolute appreciation when he’s working with them is unmistakable.

He’s found his life’s passion, and then some, happily rhyming off the weights of many of their current 30-bird roster.

Owned by Dan Frankian, and operated directly behind his home, he keeps 25 to 30 birds of prey on his 10-acre site at any given time. They mean everything to him, and he goes to great lengths to ensure their comfort and safety.

Captive hawks and falcons must be protected from cats, dogs, and other predators, including humans, as well as weather extremes of heat and cold, wind, and dampness.

Practicing falconry for 35 years, Frankian said falcons are the jet fighters of the bird of prey world - fast and furious, and part of the attraction for him. A former Canadian forces military man, he served overseas on several missions in the Middle East. He said peregrine falcons have been clocked in a dive for prey (also referred to as a stoop) at more than 400 km/hr – and the reason several U.S. military planes are named after birds of prey.

Eagles, he said, are like the bombers, big and fierce. And the stealth fighters are the owls. Falcons can knock out a bird with a punch of their talons, Frankian said, noting they’re great duck hunters.

That’s the reason a 652-gram peregrine falcon can take down a mallard duck roughly three times its weight. Outside of the wild, and well-looked after in captivity, birds of prey can easily live into their 20s.

Peregrine falcons have extraordinary vision and relatively large eyes in relation to the volume of their head.

“They can be a kilometre up in the sky and see a bird on the ground,” Decina added. “In a scientific paper, an ornithologist estimated that for a human to have the same ratio of eye size to volume of the head, each eyeball in a human would have to weigh approximately 4.5 pounds. That would equate to the weight of a 10-pin bowling ball in our heads."

Decina, who, along with his wife, also enjoys horse-back riding with their pair of horses in Halton Hills, said his rapport with the birds of prey is one he’s built with patience, time, understanding, dedication and skill. He’s grateful to be able to spend time with the raptors, knowing that both he and the birds have a role to play in the relationship.

He, along with other falconers at Hawkeye, also go on the road to events and shows throughout Halton and the GTA, where they educate the public, and show off some of the many owls, eagles, hawks and falcons.

Every raptor remains forever aloof, reserved and wild – part of the attraction – at least for Decina, and many of those who work at Hawkeye.

At home in Acton, they live in large, double-insulated, free-lofted individual houses. Each of the totally separate houses offers the birds of prey the choice of being outdoors – weather permitting – in their own large outdoor area, accessible by an open door.

Each bird of prey has several perches constructed for individual needs. Fresh water and most importantly, fresh quail, is weighed out every day for each bird, who is also weighed daily, if not more. That’s because, when it comes down to the science of raptors, it’s all about the weight: too many grams of food will make a raptor lazy; not enough and they won’t have the energy to properly do their job, so optimum flying weight is key.

Cooler temperatures at night mean the raptors use more calories to keep up their body temperatures.

“Fat birds will ignore you,” said Decina, “They have to be a little bit hungry and a couple of grams (of food) can make a difference.

“A fat hawk could sit in a tree all day long and do nothing. If you let him eat too much on the ground and try to fly him again, he’ll say, ‘No, I’m good; I’ll just stay here.’” Trained hawks are still wild creatures with minds of their own, so on a full stomach, a hawk could very well fly away.

Simone, a female Harris’ hawk, who was this day’s flying expert, is 1040 grams - the females (generally speaking in all birds of prey) are at least 30 per cent larger than the males. She got fed 40 grams of quail for her impressive show. Her talon grip strength is between 200 to 300 psi, so wearing thick leather gloves is a must - you wouldn’t want those lethal weapons puncturing your skin and flesh. A bell attached to her leg jingles so she can be heard even if she goes out of sight, while she is also suited up with a GPS transmitter for tracking purposes.

There’s a high standard of ethics among the staff at Hawkeye, where many of the raptors have been purchased, while others that would otherwise not survive on their own come to live out the rest of their lives.

Humans and hawks share a certain understanding, one that Decina has learned to read. He can tell when they’re not impressed, and he can see when they’re ready to pounce. He knows the various screams they make, and when to put in a pair of ear plugs.

With Simone perched on his leather-gloved forearm, Decina marched to the practice field where she knew exactly what’s coming, and where it’s coming from.

Just the quick, airy sound of a whistle is all they need to glide in from a perch in the field to grab a snack of quail from your outstretched hand. Watching them gracefully fly in, land silently on a guest's gloved hand, and enjoy the snack is an incredible experience for anyone.

Falconry is an ancient hunting practice dating back more than 4,000 years – perhaps one of the most enduring human-bird relationships – one that struck a chord with Decina.

Even today, several colloquialisms have roots in falconry, from “under my thumb” which refers to the way falconers hold their birds, and “birds-eye view,” referencing how a certain species of hawks (Harris’ hawks) will hunt in packs, stacking upon each other to gain height, to better scan the horizon as they search for prey.

To become a falconer, you must have a hunting license; to get an apprentice falconry license, you must be sponsored by a falconer. There are some 200 active, licensed falconers in Ontario.

In addition to servicing most of the province, Hawkeye also has a Florida location and they’ve done work as far as Ecuador.