RAPTOR TEAM PATROLS AIRSPACE ABOVE SIMI VALLEY LANDFILL SEA-GULL SCAVENGERS CHASED AWAY.

Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - Standing on a Simi Valley hilltop with a hooded falcon perched on his leather-gloved hand, Joe Suffredini is a medieval figure with a modern-day job.

With a signal from Suffredini, the falcon zooms into the sky in search of scavengers as bulldozers cover the 3,000 tons of trash dumped each day at the Simi Valley Landfill.

Suffredini's flock of nine falcons is charged with chasing away the hordes of sea gulls who view the mountains of garbage as their smorgasbord.

``It's hard work defending a pile of food against a bunch of hungry birds,'' Suffredini said.

Two or three days each week, Suffredini, 30, positions himself upwind from the landfill with four falcons and sends them one at a time after the scavenging gulls.

Facilities such as landfills and airports are increasingly turning to birds of prey to scare away sea gulls and other ``nuisance'' birds.

If left unchecked at landfills, an unlimited food supply and few natural predators will cause the gulls' population to explode. Large flocks will roost at the nearest water supply, and leave their abundant droppings on neighboring buildings and cars.

Keeping them away from landfills has proved a challenge. Gulls are intelligent creatures who quickly learn they have nothing to fear from noisy explosives and other commonly used deterrents, said Anne Price, a master falconer and curator at the Raptor Education Foundation in Denver.

``We've tried every technique available,'' said Scott Tignac, district manager of the Simi Valley Landfill. ``We've put up kites and balloons that look like their predators. That worked for about an hour.''

Falconry has proved to be an effective, environmentally sound way to chase the gulls away, Tignac said.

``We're using nature to control nature,'' he said.

Suffredini's falcons are taught to chase the gulls away without harming them. When the birds finish their work, they are rewarded with farm-raised quail.

Gulls also are quick to catch on that trained falcons will not harm them, but ancestral knowledge overpowers learned behavior every time, Price said.

``The instinct to flee a raptor is very strong,'' Price said. ``They run first and ask questions later.''

Suffredini uses captive-bred Lanner and Saker falcons, which originated in Africa and the Middle East and are known for their hardiness. Federal conservation laws ban the use of domestic falcons.

Suffredini, a master falconer and graduate of the Exotic Animal Training and Management program at Moorpark College, started Avian Entertainment four years ago to stage educational shows and supply trained birds for film and television productions.

He pitched his services to the Simi Valley Landfill two years ago after he came to dump some trash and saw workers firing guns into the air in a vain attempt to scare the birds away.

Fascinated by birds since childhood, Suffredini also keeps hawks, owls, vultures and crows at his Castaic home. His affection for birds even extends to the sea gulls he is paid to chase away.

``I love all birds,'' he said. ``I have a little bit of empathy for the sea gull but I've got to root for the falcon.''

On the Net: http://www.avianent.com

Andrea Cavanaugh, [phone]

andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in Simi edition only) Joe Suffredini, 30, of Castaic shows Tuck, one of the nine captive-bred Lanner and Saker falcons he works in Simi Valley.

(2 -- ran in Simi edition only) Master falconer Joe Suffredini uses a leather glove to hold Mordib, one of nine falcons who chase off scavenger sea gulls from the tons of exposed trash, in background, at the Simi landfill.

(3 -- ran in SAC edition only) Master falconer Joe Suffredini uses a leather glove to hold Mordib, one of the nine falcons who chase off scavenger sea gulls from the tons of exposed trash, in background, at the Simi landfill.

(4 -- ran in SAC edition only) no caption (falcon flying)

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer