» City Falcon Release Day – Glossary

City Falcon Release Day – Glossary

August 26, 2011

Like any other sport, falconry has created its own professional jargon. Since it’s been around quite a while, there is an abundance of terms for equipment, birds of various ages, gender and species, and ways of handling, hunting and feeding the bird. In City Falcon, I tried to keep the lingo as low-grade as possible, but a few technicalities slipped though nevertheless.

A Harris hawk landing on the glove

So for the geeks and other interested persons among us, here you are:

anklets and jesses: the falcon’s “shoes”. Traditionally made of leather, they can be a variety of materials today. Greg, being the traditionalist he is, uses Aylmeri jesses – suede leather anklet and jess is in one piece. The falcon wears the jesses in flight; when she rests,  they are attached to the mews leash with a swivel.

Mew(s): the falcon’s house. It should be big enough that she can flap her wings, airy and open to daylight, but keep her safe from wind and rain.

hawkbox or crate: the box used for the bird to travel, also called the big hood. Small and dark to keep her quiet, mostly made from wood.

hood: a leather pouch molded to the falcon’s head to cover her eyes. Birds of prey are very visual beings; when they can’t see, they tend to keep calm and still.

gauntlet: the correct technical term for the falconer’s glove. In the middle east falconers wear a mangalah, a cuff, instead of a glove

A propos Middle East: As Hunter used to speak mostly Arabic for almost a decade, he tends to lapse into this language in moments of emotional turmoil. He also uses Arabic endearments for Mark. Here are the translations:

yarouhi:  actually  ya rouhi, literally: my soul. ya is an appellative prefix in Arabic, also used in Ya Allah!, literally: Oh my God!, an exclamation Hunter uses several times

nour’ ehni: light of my eyes

gazzabi: a term to express a feeling toward a male as being attractive or beautiful. Roughly translated: “I find you very attractive/ beautiful”