Falcons: effective, if unusual, pest control

Feathers flew when Cagney the falcon lunged for an Egyptian goose and connected with it briefly.

Her handler, Jaco Myburgh, effectively a member of her "hunting pack", bolted out of the golf cart the moment she took off to be her back-up and make sure she didn't get hurt.

"Our birds come first and can take some rough and tumble, but that breeding pair could have turned on her," he said, climbing back into the cart at Pearl Valley Golf Estate near Paarl.

Cagney, sitting once again on his gloved wrist, leant into his chest while he stroked her head.

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Hank Chalmers, founder of bird rehabilitation and education centre Eagle Encounters, said: "Harris hawks hunt in packs in the wild, flying 20 to 30 together. The other raptors don't. They are more likely to eat each other."

A falconer who raised birds in his room, Chalmers started Falcon Bird Pest Control about four years ago to allow the falcons to hunt and generate income for the raptor centre.

Eagle Encounters, based at Spier wine estate in Stellenbosch, has about 400 rescued and released birds in its care every year and has about 130 on site.

The falcons, as the low numbers of Egyptian geese left at the golf estate demonstrate, are effective at scaring away "nuisance birds".

When the falcons started hunting there, it had about 1,000 geese. On Myburgh's circuit we came across only four breeding pairs and youngsters, which Cagney chased. The geese immediately flew into the water where they were safe from attack.

Chalmers said: "We don't play golf, but we care about the diversity of bird species and when the geese are chased away they come back."

Myburgh is simply doing maintenance to keep the threat active so that the place remains unattractive to most geese.

"Harris hawks come from South America but they are better hunters than the local black sparrowhawks," said Chalmers. "They are clever and consistent and outwit their prey. The sparrowhawk has brawn and no brain and will just fly it down."