TALON SCOUT L.A. ZOO BIRD TRAINER CAUGHT UP IN FALCONRY.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

THOUSAND OAKS - The hooded falcon waits on Jon Guenther's gloved hand, ready to be loosed on the windless sky.

As its mask is slowly lifted, Luke - as in Luke Skywalker - spreads its wings and disappears into the air. And then returns.

``It's amazing,'' said Guenther, a master falconer and longtime Thousand Oaks resident. ``You got this bird that is king of the sky. It dominates everything that is out there.''

As one of the West Coast's premier bird trainers and a lead handler at the Los Angeles Zoo's ``World of Birds Show,'' Guenther, 36, has tamed all types of birds. The list includes the African crowned eagle, which has claws that can crush a monkey's head, and an Andean condor with a wing span almost twice the height of most humans.

But it is the falcon, with its speed, agility and fierce beauty in flight, that grips Guenther.

The first flap of its wings, the brute strength it exerts as it climbs the sky and then effortlessly zeros in on prey, is simply exhilarating, he said.

A falcon like Luke, a foot-tall, cream-color peregrine and gyrfalcon mix, will soar thousands of feet in the air to eye its prey. After singling out a victim, it will tuck its wings against its lean body and dive - sometimes at speeds close to 200 miles an hour - and, if triumphant, will snatch its prey in midair.

Then the bird, if well-trained, coolly returns to its trainer's hand.

``It's way more than a hobby,'' said Guenther, who frequently can be seen at dawn releasing his falcon over fields in Camarillo or in the flatlands of Lancaster. ``It keeps me from sleeping sometimes. Everything is tied up in what your bird is doing.''

Guenther's passion is shared by more than 3,000 national licensed falconers in the United States. More than 600 of them are in California.

``It's mind-boggling,'' said Kent Carnie, director of the Archives of American Falconry, the country's only archive dedicated exclusively to the sport.

``There is a bond between a bird and man that is inexplicable. To be able to have a wild creature and have it come back to you ... it's amazing,'' he said from the library located in Boise, Idaho.

The bond between handler and falcon is built through weeks of conditioning in which the trainer teaches the bird trust through food rewards.

In the first few flights, the trainer keeps the falcon on a long line until the relationship is established and the bird returns willingly to the glove. Then the bird is set free to hunt and return.

Enthusiasts like Ron Brown, president of the California Hawking Club, say that when a bird takes flight, part of the falconer does, too. For a moment, humans share the rare speed and fierce focus that make the bird a master hunter and survivor.

``It's a life-and-death situation that they go on with or without us,'' Brown said. ``We have this unbelievable possibility to be a part of it.''

It's that possibility that drives falconers to wake at the crack of dawn when weather conditions are ideal, or sends them out for miles chasing a distracted falcon, Brown said.

The falcon is considered by many to be the ultimate bird of prey. In ancient Egyptian and Aztec cultures, it was a powerful religious symbol. Shakespeare was a master falconer, as have been royalty from Europe to Persia.

Believed to have emerged in Central Asia more than 6,000 years ago, falconry is perhaps most often associated with medieval Europe, Carnie said. Falcons were often used to catch game, but once guns were introduced, the sport fell out of favor. It is still practiced today, most notably by the royal family in Saudi Arabia and in competitions around the world.

More mundanely, airports also employ falconers to clear runways of pigeons and other birds that can interfere with flights, and, increasingly, landfill operators look to falcons to shoo away sea gulls.

In the United States, most falconers go through a stringent licensing program and two-year apprenticeship. The sport itself demands dedication and patience, but most importantly it requires passion.

That's something Guenther, completely captivated since he plucked a falcon from its nest when he was only 9, has in excess.

``It's the fastest creature, and it's so admirable,'' he said. ``It's breathtaking.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) John Guenther, above, carries his falcon Luke into a farm field in Camarillo. Guenther, a master falconer, works at the Los Angeles Zoo training birds. At left, Luke sits atop a quail carcass Guenther uses for training.

(3) Master falconer John Guenther of Thousand Oaks lets Luke, one of his falcons, loose in a Camarillo field.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box:

PEREGRINE FALCONS

SOURCE: National Audubon Society's Field Guide to Birds and The Sibley Guide to Birds.

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist