Falcon Crest A Jersey City couple resurrects a 5,000-year-old sport By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky irds are common in Jersey City. Aside from flocks of pigeons, you’ll occasionally see a cardinal or even a pheasant in Liberty State Park. Yet, the sight of a bird of prey swooping in on a mouse seems more like something you would see in a nature documentary than in Lincoln Park. Unless you happen to run into Emilio and KristieAnn Ramos. The Jersey City couple practice falconry. They bring their Harris Hawks, Bodhi and Ariya, and Red-Tailed Hawk, Billie, to hunt for small animals like squirrels in Lincoln Park and Liberty State Park. These birds aren’t their pets, despite the clear bond. “It’s the art of training a wild bird to hunt prey,” Emilio says. “The sport of falconry is like getting to watch the Discovery channel up close.” Emilio is a retired Jersey City police officer. KristieAnn proudly points out that he was the first Filipino police officer in the department. “I retired two years ago from the bomb squad as an emergency-service bomb technician, one of the snipers for the SWAT team, and a scuba diver for the department,” he says.
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Love at First Flight He found the sport about ten years ago when a friend who practices falconry took him to watch his bird scare pigeons away at the Liberty State Park terminal. Emilio was instantly hooked. His friend warned him that falconry can become all consuming. “He told me if I didn’t have time on my hands, don’t do it because it becomes a lifestyle.” KristieAnn, who is semi-retired as an activity director for an assisted living community, did not get into falconry as quickly as her husband. She would join him when he took his Red-Tails to hunt, but she wasn’t interested in pursuing the sport. Five years ago when Emilio got Bodhi, his first Harris Hawk, KristieAnn’s interest grew. “I saw how well the bird flew with him, and how our dog, Khaleesi, worked with the bird,” she recalls. Emilio got a female Harris Hawk, Ariya to join the male, Bodhi. “When I saw him flying them together as a cast, which is where they hunt together, it was the coolest thing,” KristieAnn says. “It was even cooler to see them get one rabbit.”
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Soon after, KristieAnn was injured at work. The pain from her injury made it difficult for her to sleep. Emilio urged her to use that time to study while she was up late at night. KristieAnn passed the falconry exam and got her certification a year ago. She is among less than 600 female falconers nationwide.
Conservation, not Cruelty “As an apprentice you have to trap your first Red-Tail,” KristieAnn says. The description that follows may be unsettling to some readers, but there are permits, licensing, and regulations for the safety of animals. Falconers must obtain a falconry permit from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to safely trap their birds. Trapping a falcon involves lying in wait with a pigeon in a harness or a gerbil in a netted wire cage that will lure the bird. When the hawk comes down to get its meal, it gets caught by its talon. Neither the bait animal or the hawk is harmed. “Most falconers are interested in conservation,” Emilio says, noting that bringing the young falcons into captivity greatly improves their chances of survival. Many don’t survive their first winter. According to the New Jersey Falconry Club, 75 to 80 percent of immature raptors die each year.
