BaywingDB: A pedigree and hunting performance
database for Harris’s hawks
By Toby Bradshaw
The discovery of
Harris’s hawks as falconry birds is one of the greatest advances ever made in
the sport. A good Harris’s hawk has a
unique combination of calm temperament, willingness to tackle a wide range of
game, adaptability to a variety of hunting circumstances, and social behavior
that allows dogs, humans, and other Harris’s hawks to join in the hunt. At least in
The growing
demand for Harris’s hawks over the past 30 years, coupled with their very
restricted geographic range in the
We have reached
an important point in the history of Harris’s hawk breeding. The combined experience of dozens of breeders
and hundreds of falconers flying thousands of Harris’s hawks has revealed that
there is tremendous variation among the offspring of different pairs of Harris’s
hawks, and much of this variation appears to be under strong genetic
control. Astute falconers and breeders
have begun to focus their efforts on bloodlines that consistently produce Harris’s
hawks with desirable falconry characteristics: tameness and trainability,
intelligent use of height and position in the field, good social skills with
other hawks and dogs, eager and persistent pursuit of quarry, and athletic
ability. We find ourselves at the
beginning of the domestication process for Harris’s hawks, and there is good
reason to believe that the transformation from wild hawk to specialized
falconry bird will be every bit as dramatic and successful as was the
domestication of modern hunting dog breeds from their wolf ancestors.
The key to
progress in any long-term breeding program is meticulous record-keeping. One need only note the ever-increasing speed
of thoroughbred racehorses, all of which can trace their ancestry to just three
Arabian and Turkish stallions brought to England in the 1600s, to obtain ample
evidence of the value of pedigree records.
It is imperative that falconers now develop and maintain comprehensive
pedigree records for Harris’s hawks, and link these pedigree records to hunting
performance data, so that superior individuals and bloodlines may be recognized
and improved by selective breeding. At
the moment there is no centralized database of pedigree information for
captive-bred Harris’s hawks. For
instance, the annual reports submitted by licensed raptor propagators to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service do not contain pedigree information, although
each propagator is supposed to keep pedigree data in his or her own personal
records.
I propose to
address the need for a comprehensive pedigree and performance database for Harris’s
hawks by the creation of BaywingDB, an international public database
accessible via the World Wide Web.
BaywingDB was inaugurated in April 1999, and may be found at http://home.comcast.net/~baywingdb/baywinghome.htm. As of this writing (June 1999), BaywingDB
contains pedigree information for more than 300 Harris’s hawks from around the
world. These 300+ birds represent an
excellent beginning; however, I estimate that at least 2000 Harris’s hawks have
been bred in captivity in the
What are the
advantages of participating in the BaywingDB project? If you are a breeder, the database records
will allow you to track the performance of the birds derived from your breeding
project. You will be able to determine
the genetic relationship of new breeding stock to your current program and to
the programs of other breeders. This
will permit you to manage levels of inbreeding to intensify desirable
characteristics of individual birds and bloodlines, while simultaneously
flagging potential genetic problems which may arise as line breeding is
done. If you are a falconer, BaywingDB
will help you find a breeder and perhaps a particular pair of birds which
produce the kind of offspring you'd like to fly. You can find out how the relatives of your
hunting birds are performing for other falconers around the world. My fondest wish is for breeders to produce
the best possible Harris’s hawks for falconry, and for falconers to get the
most enjoyment from their birds. It will
require a cooperative effort. The free
and open exchange of pedigree and performance data will facilitate this
cooperation.
This is a
particularly auspicious time to begin a venture such as BaywingDB. First, many of the ‘old timers’ who pioneered
the use of Harris’s hawks in falconry, and who initiated the first captive
breeding projects, are still around and able to remember the origin and pedigree
relationships of the founding stock.
This historical perspective is especially important for the time period
before the USFWS Raptor Propagation Permit system, with its annual reports and
seamless bands, was put into place.
Second, the inaugural edition of BaywingDB reveals that some breeders
are already producing their fourth generation of captive-bred Harris’s hawks,
increasing the immediate value and applicability of detailed genealogies. Some unexpectedly close relationships among
breeding birds acquired from various sources have already been discovered, and
there are probably more surprises of this kind in store. Third, the nearly universal presence of the
web makes it possible to collect, analyze, and disseminate up-to-date
information quickly, with relatively little difficulty, and at low cost. The majority of the work to establish
BaywingDB will come in the first year, when a rich 30 years of ‘legacy’ data
must be entered. Subsequent annual
updates should be much easier. Fourth,
more and more falconers are becoming discriminating in their purchases of
captive-bred Harris’s hawks. While it is
certainly true that the average Harris’s hawk is more than adequate for the
average falconer, a wise falconer naturally prefers to start with the very best
available bloodlines so that his or her substantial investments in time and
effort are rewarded fully. A really
well-bred Harris’s hawk practically trains itself, in the same way that an
Elhew pointer learns its trade with only minor human intervention. I find that my own expectations for a new Harris’s
hawk have grown remarkably over the years.
Twenty years ago I was satisfied with just catching cottontails and
jackrabbits on a regular basis. Today, I
still expect a Harris’s hawk to fill the freezer with rabbits, but I won’t keep
a young bird unless it also is completely tame (even during the molt) and at
ease in an open flight cage, is well-mannered in the company of other Harris’s hawks,
hunts well with (not for!) small dogs, learns quickly the essentials of rabbit
hunting tactics in all types of terrain, and is unstinting in its efforts to
catch quarry. A first-class Harris’s hawk
will do all these things, and not scream even at home! If falconers set high standards for their Harris’s
hawks, and are willing to pay a premium for quality (money well spent, in my
opinion), breeders will rise to the challenge and meet the demand. Believe me, not all Harris’s hawks are
created equal, and you can really simplify and improve your falconry life by
purchasing a young bird from proven bloodlines.
‘Blood will tell’ in Harris’s hawks, just as we know that it does in gun
dogs, racehorses, and homing pigeons.
There are
several ways for breeders and falconers to contribute Harris’s hawk pedigree
and hunting performance information to BaywingDB. The simplest is to use the web-based data
entry forms which can be found at the BaywingDB website <http://home.comcast.net/~baywingdb/baywinghome.htm>. If you have information on many birds to
enter at once, there are Excel97 forms which can be downloaded from the
BaywingDB site, filled out, and emailed to me <baywingdb@comcast.net> as
attachments. If you are unable to use
the web-based forms or Excel spreadsheets, a list of the required information
is included at the end of this article.
Simply write the necessary information on a piece of paper and mail it
to me at:
Toby Bradshaw,
17721 3rd Pl SW, Seattle WA 98166
Dan Pike is
helping to develop a web-based system to allow falconers and breeders to search
BaywingDB directly, but at the moment the database is stored in three file
formats: in Breed Mate <http://www.breedmate.com>
pedigree software format, as a Microsoft Excel97 spreadsheet, and as a
comma-delimited ASCII text file. Anyone
with web access may download BaywingDB from the website. Breed Mate software has been chosen as the
primary pedigree database because of its ability to draw and diagram pedigrees,
track ancestors and descendants, and calculate inbreeding coefficients. However, it is possible for falconers and
breeders who do not have Breed Mate to do a great deal of analysis (sorting, ranking,
etc.) in the Excel97 version of BaywingDB, and of course the data also could be
imported into a relational database program such as Microsoft Access if
sophisticated queries are needed.
BaywingDB
data entry.
The information
requested for each Harris’s hawk in the BaywingDB pedigree and hunting
performance database is shown below. A
short description of each database field follows. When filling out data forms, it is vitally
important that no incorrect data be entered.
It is much better to leave a space on the form blank than to guess
or enter bad data! This is particularly
true for pedigree data for captive-bred birds and geographic origin information
for wild-caught birds. It is OK to
estimate numbers of quarry taken on the Hunting Performance form if you don’t
have accurate written records. Please
try to resist the temptation to estimate head counts the same way that anglers
estimate fish weights!
Pedigree
information.
Bird’s
name. Each bird in BaywingDB must have a
unique name. In the event that duplicate
names are contributed to the database, all except the first one contributed
will have the initials of the owner appended.
For example, the first entry of a Harris’s hawk named ‘Delta’ was made
by me, so it is simply listed as ‘Delta’.
Jennifer Coulson subsequently contributed information on her bird
‘Delta’, so this bird was entered into Baywing DB as ‘DeltaJC’. Captive-bred birds contributed by breeders
are first assigned BaywingDB names defined by the breeder’s initials followed
by a number. For example, ‘TJC203’ was
bred by Tom and Jennifer Coulson. When
‘TJC203’ is sold and the new owner submits hunting performance data, the band
number will be checked against the database and the bird’s record updated with
the new name given by the bird’s owner.
Sex. Male (M) or female (F). Leave blank if uncertain.
HY. Hatch year, 4 digits (e.g., 1999).
Bird’s father’s
name. If the father’s name is unknown,
any information you can provide that might help track him down would be
helpful. Please make sure that the
father’s name is spelled correctly – computers are very unforgiving of spelling
errors. If you are reporting on
wild-taken eyas birds, please note if more than one bird was taken from the
same nest in a given year, since it is generally safe to assume that these
birds are full- or half-siblings.
Bird’s mother’s
name. See above.
Bird’s band
number. Self-explanatory.
CB/WC. Captive-bred (CB) or wild-caught (WC).
Father’s band
number.
Mother’s band
number.
Owner. Current owner’s name. Last name; first name. Contact information (other than first and
last name) about breeders and falconers who have contributed to BaywingDB will
not be released to the public.
Breeder. Breeder’s name. Last name; first name.
Country of
origin. Only applies to wild-caught
birds (e.g.,
State of
origin. Only applies to wild-caught
birds (e.g., AZ).
Locality of origin. Only applies to wild-caught birds (e.g.,
100 miles east of
Disposition. Bird’s fate (e.g., death, lost,
transferred).
Year of death. 4 digits.
Cause of death. Electrocution, injury, disease, accident,
etc.
Alternate band number and
comments. If the bird has had band
numbers other than the one given under ‘Bird’s band number’ above, list them
here. Any other comments (up to 250
characters) about the bird or its pedigree can be written here.
Last updated. Today’s date.
Hunting performance.
Unfortunately, there are no
particularly objective measures of hunting performance. In falconry we don’t yet have any reliable
standards like a horse race or even a dog field trial. Nevertheless, any bird that runs up a big
score must have something going for it – a favorable combination of genes,
training, game abundance, and falconer perseverance.
Weight. Flying weight in grams (1 ounce = 28.3
grams). Use the weight that gave the
most reliable performance on difficult quarry.
Seasons. Number of seasons hunted. Fractions are OK. For instance, a ‘full season’ could be
considered six months of hunting five or more days per week. Six months of weekend hawking could therefore
be listed as 0.4 seasons.
Rabbits. Total number of rabbits caught over all
seasons hunted.
Hares. Total number of hares/jackrabbits caught over
all seasons hunted.
Waterfowl. Total number of waterfowl (ducks, moorhens,
etc.) caught over all seasons hunted.
Miscellaneous. Total number of miscellaneous game (crows,
squirrels, etc.) caught over all seasons hunted.
Total kills. Total number of kills over all seasons
hunted.
Kills best season. Total number of kills in the bird’s best
single season.
Owner best season. Bird’s owner in its best season. Last name; first name.
Overall hunting performance. Rank 1-5, 1=worst, 5=best. Enter ‘ND’ if there is insufficient data to
make a judgment. Remember that even an
average Harris’s hawk (a ‘3’) is a pretty good bird!
Group hunting. Rank 1-5 (or ND). A ‘1’ fights with other Harris’s hawks at
every opportunity. A ‘3’ might fight
with certain other individuals, or if provoked.
A ‘5’ will not fight even when provoked by another bird.
Hunts well with dogs. Rank 1-5 (or ND). A ‘1’ attacks most or all dogs at every
opportunity. A ‘3’ might grab a
particular dog, or pick on small dogs but not large ones. A ‘5’ has never attacked even a small dog
wriggling through the brush inches behind a rabbit.
Following and position. Rank 1-5 (or ND). A ‘1’ is nearly always out of position, and
hunts best directly off the fist. A ‘3’
follows fairly well, lagging behind occasionally. A ‘5’ responds to the falconer by moving to
the indicated position, mounts to tall structures, slope soars when possible,
constantly adjusts its position to deal with changes in cover and the location
and activity of the dogs, and often leads the hunt. There is nothing more deadly in cover than a Harris’s
hawk that positions itself well.
Flight speed and quickness. Rank 1-5 (or ND). A ‘1’ loses ground to a rabbit in the open. Thankfully, these are rare. A ‘3’ can overhaul any rabbit or hare in the
absence of a headwind. A ‘5’ is the
closest thing to a goshawk with brains.
Differences in speed are most notable on hare/jackrabbit flights and in
pursuit of upland game, especially when hawking with a group of Harris’s hawks.
Footing. Rank 1-5 (or ND). A ‘1’ misses easy catches. A ‘3’ is a solid performer that catches most
quarry at which it has a fair shot. A
‘5’ seems to have a tractor beam.
Hunting comments. You have a small space (250 characters) to
sum up the bird’s ability. This is a
good place to note the capture of unusual quarry (e.g., deer, bobcat,
turkey, swan).
I look forward to your
contributions to BaywingDB, and would appreciate any suggestions you may have for
improvement of the database.
Acknowledgments. I wish to thank to Dan Pike for providing
advice and hardware for the BaywingDB website.
Tom and Jenn Coulson generously made their extensive records of
captive-bred Harris’s hawks available to BaywingDB, and have spent many years
breeding and flying the kind of Harris’s hawks that make the sport what it is
today.