Falconry is defined as the sport of hunting wild game with a trained hawk.  In the terms of the falconer, the ‘hawk’ may be a hawk, falcon, eagle or even a trained owl (although I’ve never seen an owl successfully trained to hunt in falconry).  It is a general term to describe the trained bird.    At renaissance faires, there is  often what is called a falconry display, sometimes with injured, permanently crippled birds that can never fly again, or a show with a full free flying display.  Although the birds fly around, this is not true falconry.  It is a training demonstration.  TRUE Falconry is the hunting of these birds on wild quarry.   Most falconers will correct you on this point.  So, I will start with the history of the sport and then touch on what we as falconers practice today.

If you've got a Broadband Internet connection and Google Earth on your PC, you can use the KML file I've created that shows over 520 Placemarks for Renaissance Faires and Celtic Festivals worldwide.  They're organized by Region and by Month.

First make sure Google Earth is installed and runs on your PC.
Then in your browser, "Right-Click>Save to your PC" the file with the latest datestamp from: http://dbaldock9.googlepages.com/kmlfiles
With Google Earth running, click on "File>Open" and select the file you just downloaded.
Have Fun!


Take Care,
David Baldock
RenaissanceFestival.com forum member