🧰 Care, Equipment & Facilities · 6 min
Perches
Why this matters
A bird stands on your equipment for twenty-two hours a day. Perch choice shows up later as feather damage or as bumblefoot.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Match perch types to the birds they are designed for
- Explain the reasoning behind the block-for-falcons, ring-for-accipiters convention
- State what determines the minimum width of a falcon block
The types
| Perch | Suited to |
|---|---|
| Block | Falcons. The traditional and near-universal choice. |
| Ring | Accipiters, and the best outdoor tethering perch for a Red-tailed Hawk. |
| Bow | Prevents the tangles and hang-ups that plague ring perches. |
| Tail-saver | Developed by Heinz Meng. The best perch for preventing feather damage in accipiters. |
| Cadge | Not a housing perch: a frame used to transport birds to the field. |
Why the convention exists
The perches were designed around foot shape and conformation and around the natural perches each group prefers in the wild, which is thought to be better for foot health. All of those reasons are correct together. A goshawk would probably not be comfortable on a block; a falcon might be perfectly fine on a ring perch, but most falconers stay with tradition and keep falcons on blocks.
Sizing a block
The minimum width across the top is determined by the size of the bird's leg and the length of the jesses. For most large falcons that works out around eight inches. The block should be circular in cross-section and wide enough that the jesses cannot slip down one on each side of it, which causes serious feather damage and injury. Comparatively short jesses are recommended, though long enough that the bird can still be handled.
Perch and feather damage
A passage hawk is most likely to break tail feathers if you keep it on an improper perch. Newly caught accipiters are far worse at damaging plumage than falcons, red-tails or Harris's Hawks: a fresh Cooper's Hawk or goshawk will break every tail feather it has unless the tail is sheathed in paper or plastic and taped until the bird tames down.
This lesson is part of the NY Falconry Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.