Falconry in UAE

Falconry in UAE:

I did my interview with my grandfather's friends, he lives in Al Ain and his name is Mohamed Salem Al Mansouri ; he had some falcons and he won some competitions. Therefore, I asked him some questions about falconry.

What are the most famous falcons in the UAE?

There are many kinds of falcons in the UAE, but there are some famous falcons like: Saker,Peregrine falcons, Gyr and Lanner. But people always use the peregrine or what they call it "Shahen" because it has much more power than other falcons and can hunt more than once in a day. Also Peregrine Falcon can go to 300k/m speed or more. In addition, some falcons like Gyr and Lanner can't hunt more than once in a day. Each kind of falcon has different color and different height; sometimes the color depends on the age of the falcon 

Why they used the falcons in the past?

Before the development that happened to the UAE, falconry was vital for the bedouin people and they were hunting Hubarah and rabbits, and they used to eat them for the lunch or dinner.

How much does the falcon cost?

The falcon price is different between each kind and their height for example, Saker falcon between 2500Dh to 50,000 Dh, Shahen from 2500Dh to 15,000Dh and Gyr from 2000Dh to 10,000Dh

What are the famous competitions in the UAE for the falconers?

The most famous competition for the falconers is Hamdan bin Mohamed Heritage center  and those competitions depend on the falcons speed and how fast it hunts the target. The awards for the 1st winner is Range Rover Sport , for the 2nd is Lexus station 3rd, 4th and 5th are Toyota Land Cruiser and 6th to 10th are 10,000Dh for each winner.

What diseases can they get?

There are many disease may happen for the falcon; the first and most dangerous one is what they call it "Al Radad", when the falcon can't breathe well and  later on the falcon dies and there is no cure for it until now. The Worm liver, colds and sore feet and all of these are easy to cure and there are many hospitals for the falcons nowadays and there are free hospitals also for the falcons.

What is the new technology they use with Falcons nowadays?

Today there are many new technologies help which to detect the sport of the falcons because today they use a GPA technology. Also they use RC airplanes and hang a dead bird on it to let the falcon fly to hit and train the falcons by RC airplanes.