Reporting, marking and disposition

The 3-186A

Under 173.7(a), a falconer must report within ten days, either in the USFWS electronic database at permits.fws.gov/186A or on a paper federal form 3-186A submitted to the department, whenever they:

• take, acquire, transfer, reband or microchip a raptor;
• have a raptor stolen;
• permanently release a raptor to the wild;
• lose a raptor to the wild and do not recover it within 30 days;
• or have a bird in their possession die.

Theft additionally requires notifying both USFWS and the department within 10 days. Keep copies of every submission until five years after the transfer, loss or death of that raptor.

Note the asymmetry worth remembering: you may recapture a lost falconry bird at any time, with no time limit, but after 30 days without recovery you owe a report.

Marking

Two different clocks on lost bands: ten days to report a removed or lost band on a captive-bred raptor, five days on a wild one. Either way you request a replacement USFWS band from the department or implant a microchip, and you enter the rebanding or microchipping in the database immediately.

Transfer

• Wild raptors may never be sold, purchased, traded or bartered. They may only be transferred to people licensed to possess them.
• Captive-bred raptors marked with seamless bands may be bought, sold and bartered among licensed people.
• A wild-caught raptor may go to a propagation license only after two years of use in falconry, reduced to one year for sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, merlin and American kestrel.
• Sooner than that only if the bird is injured and a veterinarian has determined it can no longer be flown, with a written veterinary statement accompanying the transfer.
• You may use a falconry bird for captive propagation without transferring it, if you hold a USFWS propagation license and the bird is used fewer than 8 months in a year and fewer than 8 consecutive months. A New York falconry license by itself does not authorize breeding.

Release

• You may not permanently release a raptor that is not native to New York, or a hybrid of any kind.
• A General or Master falconer may release a native, captive-bred raptor with written permission from the department, provided the bird is hacked to the wild, not near the nesting area of a listed threatened or endangered bird or anywhere it is likely to harm listed species, and counting against the number of raptors they may possess.
• Remove the falconry leg band before releasing, and report the release.
• Releasing any falconry bird without following State and Federal law is not permitted; the exam states this as a false claim to catch you.

Feathers

Molted feathers, and feathers from captive birds that die, may not be retained or exchanged except for imping purposes, and only while you hold a valid license. Within that limit you may receive feathers for imping from other permitted falconers, rehabilitators or propagators in the United States, and may give feathers to them.