Falconer takes O.C. cities under his wing
Trainer says raptors are a green way to discourage nuisance birds from roosting.
Though beautiful birds, pigeons and seagulls have long had a public relations problem: People don’t like to be pooped on. What to do? Enter Adam Chavez. The San Juan Capistrano resident runs Adam’s Falconry Service. It works with Orange County, various cities, homeowner associations and hotels to reduce the number of nuisance birds — pigeons, seagulls, crows — in places such as landfills, beaches and agricultural areas.
Chavez said bird abatement with predator raptors has become more common over the years in the U.S. because it’s preferable to many of the other methods.
“You can try all kinds of gadgets — you see spikes and poisons,” Chavez said. “That all works to a certain extent, but it’s not going to solve the problem. The birds are going to work around it. Nothing works as good as birds of prey. It’s a green and sustainable activity that is natural.”
Chavez and his falconers use hawks and falcons for the job. Though these predator birds eat smaller birds, Chavez and his team make sure there is no bloodshed. The predators haze the birds until they decide not to return.
“You have to create a predator presence,” he said. “People always ask, ‘How long does that take?’ But every project is different. If birds have been going there for years, they aren’t just going to give it up and fly away.”
Bird abatement is used in a variety of situations — birds may be stealing food from hotel restaurants or produce from a farm. Airports may hire falconers because there are too many birds “striking” planes. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, planes collided with wildlife 14,661 times in 2018.
There are about 30 abatement birds in Chavez’s company. Chavez trains the birds in the initial stages. Using a basic Pavlovian reward method, it can take about a month to train a hawk before it can go to work, though it needs to be eased into the abatement role. It takes longer for falcons.
“The hawks turn out really quick, but the falcons take a lot longer because they mature slower,” Chavez said. “You are teaching them a lot of different things, not just flying from Point A to Point B like a hawk.”
Peregrine falcons can fly as high as .62 miles and reach about 200 mph.
“I don’t judge a falcon until I have had it for three years,” Chavez said. “I had this one falcon who was my worst at the end of year two, but by year three, he was incredible.”
Orange County hired the company about seven years ago to solve a seagull problem at the Prima Deshecha Landfill in San Juan Capistrano. Chavez said the landfill had about 5,000 seagulls when they started. There are now about 300 to 400, he estimated.
Other than the landfill, Chavez didn’t want to divulge specific locations where his falconers are assigned, saying they work in San Juan Capistrano, Newport Beach, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach and Dana Point.
David Feliciano, a falconer with Adam’s Falconry Services, spends about six to 10 hours a day at the San Juan Capistrano landfill, depending on the season.
Though falconers choose from a variety of falcons and hawks based on the scenario, Feliciano tends to prefer his most trusted hawk, Bollo.
When not pursuing seagulls, Bollo perches on Feliciano’s gloved arm with a hood over his eyes to keep him calm. Bollo will chase out the offending seagulls while Feliciano monitors the situation.
The hawk has a tracking device so Feliciano doesn’t lose him. The work is a passion for Feliciano.
“I always loved animals,” he said.