Retired commercial fisherman and 38-year Kodiak resident Don Fox had a hawk perched on his arm Tuesday afternoon.

Artemis, his five-and-a-half-month old female goshawk from Uganik Bay, was part of a presentation Fox gave to fourth- and fifth-graders at North Star Elementary School.

The students watched a video about how Fox climbs up trees to get baby birds to train and the tools he uses to teach the birds of prey to listen to him. He showed how much Artemis likes to chow down on chicken.

Artemis is just one of many in a long list of birds Fox has trained. He has had more than 40 birds in the 55 years he’s trained them.

His love for falconry – training birds to pursue game and hunt – began at an early age.

“In 1954, when I was 11 years old I got a kestrel and the next year I had a red tail,” Fox said.

He likes to present the bird to the fourth and fifth grade age groups.

“I’m just doing fourth- and fifth-graders because that’s about the age I got into it,” he said.

Fox gave details about some of the things his bird of prey likes to eat.

“She’s killed a couple pigeons I turned loose,” he said. “I’ve been trapping pigeons around town. My bird will eat one every other day. I’ll go out and catch 20 pigeons.”

Pigeons aren’t the only delicacy Artemis enjoys.

“She loves rats,” Fox said. “She also got a crow Friday and ate it.”

Food is actually a big part of training a bird Fox said.

“When you first train her you want a little bit under their normal weight so she’s hungry,” he said. “The first time you train her on a live animal, you feed her real light for two days and she’s really hungry. The only way you can train a bird is food.”

His bird’s eating habits are very important for flight as well.

“I can’t fly her right now, she’s a little overweight,” he laughed. “I weigh her every morning and evening, if she’s too fat, I cut her food down.”

Taking care of a hawk is not an easy task and involves more than just feeding and training them to hunt. There are some steps that need to be taken in order to become a falconer.

New falconers must find a sponsor. A sponsor offers advice and assistance in everything and anything related to falconry.

There are three levels for falconers including the apprentice, general and master levels. Each level has its own limits when it comes to number of birds and bird types that can be owned and trained at one time.

Fox said there are three falconers in Kodiak. Steve Doerksen, director of schools for the Kodiak Island Borough School District, is one of his fellow falconers and Fox’s sponsor.

“If you’re going to get into falconry you have to be supervised by a general or master falconer,” Fox said.

There also is an Alaska falconry exam that must be taken.

“You need to know the national history of the birds, how to care for them, how to identify them in the field and their diseases,” Fox said.

After passing the test and getting a sponsor, new falconers must be prepared to invest a lot of time into caring for their bird.

“It’s 12 months a year, seven days a week, 24/7,” Fox said. “It’s like having a baby, you have to take care of this bird.”

It is sometimes difficult for new falconers to figure out a bird’s health issues. When Fox first started caring for birds of prey there was a lot he had to learn and he did have some mishaps.

“I didn’t know a lot and I fed them all beef and they died,” he said. “I found out my mistakes and that never happened again. But you learn from experience.”

This adds another layer of difficulty that a falconer must overcome when training their birds.

“Veterinarians aren’t reliable for treating birds of prey,” Fox said. “You kind of look through the book and talk to other falconers.”

Even a skilled falconer will face minor problems when getting a bird or training it. Fox has faced a couple when training Artemis.

“The mother tried to kill me,” he said. “She hit me 12 times.”

More recently, he had to postpone the original date for his presentation because Artemis went missing.

“She was in the yard on her perch and the leash she had broke,” Fox said. “She was gone for five days.”

Fox has trained a number of different types of birds over the years and it is obvious he likes his hobby.

“It’s fun, I’ve always loved birds of prey,” he said. “I like finding the nests and raising the babies, that’s the fun part.”

Mirror writer Louis Garcia can be reached via e-mail at lgarcia@kodiakdailymirror.com.