Falcon Fever: A Falconer in the Twenty-first Century [Paperback]

This is the best book I've read this year, and it came as a complete surprise. I had no previous interest in falconry, but I was familiar with Tim Gallagher's role in the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker and had enjoyed reading his book, THE GRAIL BIRD, which details the behind-the-scenes events that led to finding that iconic species. I had also seen Gallagher speak at Cornell once, and he seemed interesting and passionate about his work. I picked up FALCON FEVER purely out of curiosity.

I'm not sure exactly what my expectations were, but FALCON FEVER completely exceeded them. The book is broken into two main parts--"My Back Pages" and "My Frederick II Year"--and in some ways it's like two books in one. The first half is a memoir covering his life up to age 19, and it's a harrowing story, as compellingly written as Tobias Wolff's THIS BOY'S LIFE, and even more grim, as Gallagher attempts to cope with a violent, unpredictable (and often drunk) father, who frequently terrorizes his family. But Gallagher finds solace in nature, escaping for hours at a time to run in the fields with his dog. He takes up falconry at the age of 12, and it becomes a grand obsession as he strives to develop an intimate relationship with the wildest, freest creatures on Earth.

At this time, Gallagher discovers Frederick II, a thirteenth-century Holy Roman Emperor and a Renaissance man 200 years before Leonardo da Vinci. He was also perhaps the greatest falconer who ever lived, and wrote a massive tome on the subject that Gallagher devoured as a preteen. But life was tough for him. He spent the last couple of years of high school working graveyard shift at factories, trying to help support his family after they fled from his father, and he often fell asleep in class.

This was in the 1960s, and like many teens in his generation, Gallagher was deeply affected by the Viet Nam war and the alternative culture that became so pervasive then. He and his friends began experimenting with drugs, and then, in his late teens, he was caught up in a drug sting and sent to jail for months. This was the most harrowing part of the book for me. By then, you feel like you really know who this kid is, and a cellblock is the last place on Earth where he belongs. He was so naive and innocent; it was like Billy Budd thrown into a den of wolves. His portrait of life in prison is unforgettable--the strange people he met; the prison culture; amazing. But Gallagher endures and becomes stronger for it.

The book then jumps more than 35 years. Gallagher is 55 years old, the same age as Frederick II was when he died, and he decides to spend a year intensely involved in falconry, visiting famous falconers in Wyoming, Nebraska, and other places in America as well as in Britain and Europe. He also travels through southern Italy and Sicily, retracing the steps of Frederick II. Toward the end of this section, the two parts of his life come together in a moving climax.

I highly recommend this book.

Birdman has posted here on Amazon an excellent review of this interesting book, and Stephen J. Bodio has written an outstanding review for the Summer 2008 issue of "Living Bird", the publication of the Laboratory of Ornithology. As a long time member of the Lab and bird watcher (but not a "birder"), I noted a few random thoughts as I read through the book.

If you have any interest in birds at all, consider becoming a member of the Lab; my sales pitch for the Lab appears in the first Comment.

Tim Gallagher is the Editor in Chief of "Living Bird", editor of the North American Falconers Association Membership and author of The Grail Bird: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. (I thought Bodio reviewed Falcon Fever fairly despite having written a glowing blurb for the back cover and having his review appear in "Living Bird".) Bodio himself has written an excellent book describing his love of falconry, A Rage for Falcons, and maintains a wonderfully complex website devoted to his many interests.

WSKG Public Broadcasting in southeastern New York conducted a 53 minute audio file of an interview with Gallagher focusing on "Falcon Fever". [online at local-national-728349.mp3 from stream.publicbroadcasting.net ]

Gallagher has written a strong apology for being both a falconer and a birder: "When I'm flying a raptor, I'm a different animal, as fierce and determined as a rampaging wolverine to flush game for my bird. If falconry didn't exist, I probably would not have become a hunter."

Gallagher devotes the second half of his book to Frederick II and his shared interest in falconry. The Wikipedia entry describes that interest: "Frederick inherited a love of falconry from his Norman ancestors. According to one source, Frederick replied to a letter in which the Mongol Khan Batu invited him to "surrender" that he would do so provided only that he be permitted to become the Khan's hawker. He maintained up to fifty hawkers at a time in his court, and in his letters he requested Arctic gyrfalcons from Lübeck and even from Greenland. He commissioned his Syrian astrologer Theodor to translate the treatise De arte venandi cum avibus, by the Arab Moamyn, and he corrected or rewrote it himself during the interminable siege of Faenza. One of the two existing versions was modified by his son Manfred, also a keen falconer."

I compared Gallagher's and Frederick II's views of falconry with T.H. White's views in The Goshawk (New York Review Books Classics), a wonderful book on the joys and challenges of falconry.

Gallagher has written a fascinating book on falconry and his own personal coming of age and making peace with his love of falconry.

Robert C. Ross 2008

Gallagher offers a fascinating window into the sport of modern-day falconry by presenting his own memoir - a life lived through the birds he captured, trained, and eventually released. From his hellish childhood to his troubled youth, and finally to his moderate and contemplative old age, Gallagher reflects both on the mechanics of the sport and what it means to those who embrace it.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars