A sharp whistle, a call: “Hey Gonzo!” A desert buzzard pushes off from the branch of a birch tree. He sails elegantly onto Leo Mandlsperger’s outstretched fist. A piece of chicken is given as a reward. Mandelsperger, 71, falconer, and Gonzo, 4, bird of prey, patrol the Puchheim cemetery on a sunny March day. You are here because until recently it was home to a large colony of rooks. The bird droppings were centimeters thick on the gravestones, burials were hardly possible because the pastor was repeatedly hit by excrement, reports Mandlsperger. However, he expresses himself much more drastically.
Leo, as everyone calls him, has his white hair tied in a bun at the nape of his neck. He is wearing a dark blue hoodie under a brown quilted jacket. The left hand is in a strong leather glove. Gonzo’s yellow legs end in powerful, sharp, black claws. The desert buzzard, which weighs only 700 grams, repeatedly flies up on its own, circles around the trees and settles down. The mere presence of the beautiful bird of prey with the reddish to dark brown feathers startles a pair of carrion crows. The rooks have already moved to a place where they are allowed to stay. You can hear them cawing from afar.
Desert buzzards are the only bird of prey to hunt in families
Mandlsperger trained Gonzo in his falconry, the Falcon World in Pfaffenhofen an der Glonn. The bird was raised by its parents, who were also deterrents, reports the falconer. He entered training at the age of 70 days. The birds communicate with each other through growls and chirps, they are used to working together. Because the American desert buzzard, also known as “Harris Hawk”, is the only species of bird of prey that hunts in a family group, led by the strongest female.
Leo Mandlsperger can summon Gonzo at any time with a whistle and his name. Falconer and bird of prey are a well-rehearsed team.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
Mandlsperger takes advantage of this. The buzzard is its partner, it has learned to understand and obey commands and that there is a reward for doing so. The falconer can even retrieve it from the air. Even if Gonzo had something completely different in mind – he tips over and flies onto his hand. It takes six months for the birds to learn how “exact deterrence” works, says Mandslperger.
“If they fly around indiscriminately, they won’t worry at all”
And it has to be exact. “If they fly around indiscriminately, they won’t worry at all,” he explains. The professional, who works with his team in eight cities in southern Germany, including Puchheim, Olching and Germering, relies on birds of prey of varying degrees of aggressiveness. Gonzo is flying around the graveyard. His brother chases the crows, which is more of a deterrent. “The daily presence of a natural enemy prevents the rooks from building their nests,” explains the falconer. The buzzard leaves smaller birds cold, Mandlsperger is convinced, they know that they do not fit into its prey scheme.
Sometimes the team works with several buzzards at one location, “that makes the crows really nervous.” And sometimes, when the rooks don’t want to understand that they should move, he and his colleagues put down a dead crow that the bird of prey is allowed to pluck – “a clear message that this isn’t a good place.”
When the work is done, there is a reward, and then the beak has to be cleaned.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
The campaigns must be completed by the end of March at the latest. Then the crows should be able to lay their eggs, which have already grown in the bodies of the females. “The birds are then in need,” says Mandlsperger. The deterrence must begin long before the nest is built, preferably in January. The rookery, which can consist of thousands of animals, should have time to find another place. “They have to decide together who builds their nest on which tree, on which branch, in which branch fork,” he explains. There is “a big palaver” in the colony.
You shouldn’t disturb them during this time, otherwise they would become restless and come under pressure. “That’s not deterrence, that’s a botch,” complains Mandlsperger. He’s even more annoyed by illegal actions that happen again and again. During campaigns under his direction, the birds of prey and their people are out and about in cemeteries and parks every day from January to March, from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. At weekends, falconers who work in other professions take over, including women. They are almost always successful, as in the Puchheim cemetery.
Deterrence successful: Gonzo and his colleagues drove the rooks from the Puchheim cemetery.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
Crows are smart. They recognize Mandlsperger’s Ford pickup from afar by the sound of the extra-wide tires and fly away. The falconer also respects them, but also understands the people who cannot be expected to be in the direct vicinity of a large rookery because of the noise and the dirt. “You have to understand the crows, your birds and the connections in nature,” he says.
And Mandlsperger knows the animals well. When he was ten, he found an injured kestrel and raised it. At that time the family lived in Maisacher’s Gernlinden district. “I’ve always had birds ever since.” And he trained them too. Among other things, he spent a few years in the Emirates on the Persian Gulf, where he looked after and trained the expensive hunting falcons of the sheikhs.
He didn’t like the mentality of the super-rich
In the long run, however, he didn’t like it – neither the mentality of his super-rich clients, who only saw expensive status symbols in the birds of prey, nor the fact that the animals often didn’t fare well in the hot climate. In addition, he had never wanted to engage in commercial falconry. It was not until 1999 that Mandlsperger gave up his thriving Harley-Davidson workshop because a sheikh who had heard of his skills as a falconer hired him. He has now been working as a deterrence specialist for 15 years and trains falconers. His birds also appear in films, commercials and television productions.
Mandlsperger is fascinated by the animals. But he has no illusions about her. “These are disgusting fighting machines in nature,” he says. They would have to be in order to survive. “If you don’t kill everything that comes along, you’ll be dead after a year – starved to death.” The truth is often not nice to look at. “The talking Hollywood animals, they don’t exist.”
Also known as Harris Hawks, Hawks have yellow legs and toes with stout black claws.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
He recently got a new job. Mandlsperger works on the lugger falcon project of Bob Dalton, a British falconer and author. Lugger falcons are threatened in their native India, Pakistan and neighboring countries. Mandlsperger has received eggs, he will hatch them and raise them. The adult animals should be released in their homeland. The falconer says he has the feeling that he is giving something back to the animals. He’s happy with that, he doesn’t need a lot of money anyway. But: “I want to be able to look in the mirror in the morning.”