Background
My first encounter with falconry was not with a real bird, but in a book, in an archive in Brindisi, Italy in 2008. There I read about thirteenth-century Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II's obsession with training birds of prey and from there I would start to see falconry everywhere, in books, in sculpture, and in the most unlikely of places, like the airport. In the mountains of Basilicata I met my first falconer, or rather, troupe of falconers, visiting from Poland for an annual medieval festival. As if by chance, the next day I stumbled upon an international meeting of falconers in Melfi, where Frederick II's famous constitution was drafted. By this time, I still remained on the fringes of falconry, a bystander eagerly waiting to try on the glove and pose with the bird, though my reading knowledge of the art was beginning to swell within me and make me eager to gain more practical experience. In Marysville, California I finally got my chance with the falconers of West Coast Falconry. I eagerly signed up for their Hawk Walks and eventually a three-day Falconry Apprentice Seminar. I'm still on the fringes until I catch my first hawk (after completing all necessary legal documents and certifications), but being able to spend so much time with the birds and their 21st-century handlers has been an excellent complement to the theoretical knowledge bestowed upon me by my medieval mentors.