roanoke.com
----Roanoke Times---

Feb. 2, 2009

Robb Herbst, falconer, is a man of many talons; A schoolteacher-falconer gives visitors at Smith Mountain Lake State Park an up-close visit with some hunters of the air.
By Jeff Sturgeon

Photos by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Robb Herbst says that Tony is free to regain his freedom at any time during their hunting sessions, but so far the red-tailed hawk has been content to team with the falconer, who is licensed to keep the bird.


Wolfie Herbst, son of Robb Herbst, displays a kestrel Sunday during a lecture about birds of prey. Robb Herbst called the kestrel the prettiest bird of prey in the Roanoke Valley area.


Robb Herbst, a falconer and director of education at Friends of Philpott, fields questions about Tony the red-tailed hawk during a lecture about birds of prey Sunday afternoon at the visitors center at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.

Robb Herbst displays the talons of Tony, a red-tailed hawk. The lecture at Smith Mountain Lake drew a respectable crowd as an alternative to Super Bowl pre-game activities.

HUDDLESTON -- Bird lovers flocked to a live bird appearance Sunday and were not disappointed.

Skipping Super Bowl pre-game parties, 76 people packed the visitors center at Smith Mountain Lake State Park to see an animal keeper whose charges are a long way from a pet parakeet.

Robb Herbst, falconer and Franklin County schoolteacher, gave a talk aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness about the sharp-eyed, rip-clawed birds of prey that migrate through the region or live as resident raptors.

"The big birds flying across the sky" that Neil Young referred to in his song "Helpless" are well represented over the Smith Mountain Lake region, Herbst said.

One, a red-tailed hawk, perched patiently on Herbst's outstretched forearm, doing his part as an ambassador for the magnificent birds with supreme eyesight and a taste for meat.

"What's the largest prey he eats?" a woman asked.

"A duck," Herbst said. "A rabbit."

Herbst did not demonstrate falconry on Sunday, but described one way he and the hawk, which he calls Tony, spend time together: Herbst releases the hawk, which flies up into a tree.

He walks around underneath to scare out a critter, rustling bushes and the like. The hawk swoops down and makes the capture. Herbst then recovers the hawk, trading a ready-to-eat morsel for the catch, which goes into the food supply from which Tony will be fed later.

He said he trapped the bird humanely near Roanoke several years ago and possesses all the necessary government permits. He said the hawk, a male with a 3-foot wingspan, can take off for good any time during hunting sessions. During his many years of trapping and admiring birds, Herbst has lost some just that way. But right now, Tony is sticking around and lives at the Herbst home.

Herbst said birds of prey are plentiful in this area, mentioning specifically osprey, vultures and various owls and hawks. Of the northern harrier, "I've seen them out at Westlake near the Kroger," he said.

Herbst entertained the enthusiastic, photo-snapping crowd for about an hour with encyclopedic knowledge of birds of prey, focusing on such fine points as the direction poop flies -- backward from a red-tailed hawk but straight down from a barn owl, which was carried by his daughter, Aviane, 13.

His son, Wolfie, carried a sparrow hawk, or kestrel, "our prettiest bird of prey," Herbst noted.

A.J. Bogdanovitch, 9, who lives near Danville, had a few moments alone after the show with Wolfie and the kestrel, time he used to snap close-ups.

"It's cool," A.J. said.

Finally, it was time for Herbst, his children and the animals to leave. The hosts stepped forward to compensate the falconer with a check. His star guest, the red-tailed hawk, got a mouse, of course.