Posted on 12/19/2004 5:44:58 PM PST by maui_hawaii
The village of Nura is a humble enough place, its rows of small houses lined up along muddy streets in the shadow of the Tien Shan mountains in the south-eastern corner of Kazakhstan.
Most vehicles on the main highway drive straight past.
But Nura has become a focus for the promotion of one of the Kazakh people's most cherished nomadic traditions.
During the winter hunting season, a visitor to the empty plains around the village will often catch sight of one of the classic images of the Central Asian steppe - a hunter in a big fur hat, on horseback, with a huge golden eagle perched on his wrist, or swooping through the air.
The mountains and open steppe around Nura have long been a favourite feeding and nesting area for Central Asian birds of prey like the eagle and the falcon.
Partly for this reason, this little village has become the home of 14 berkutchi - proponents of the Central Asian sport of eagle-hunting.
There are only about 40 officially recognised eagle-hunters in Kazakhstan today, so Nura is unusual in having such a large number.
Kazakh interest in eagle-hunting has been growing since the republic became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Hunting with eagles was discouraged in Soviet days, because it was considered an elite sport.
But many Kazakhs today are keen to rediscover the traditions of their nomadic past, and on Thursday hunters from all over Kazakhstan gathered in the capital, Astana, for an Independence Day festival to show off their birds' hunting skills and promote their sport.
"We say that hunting with eagles is an art," said Mukhamed Isabekov, a Nura resident and deputy head of Kazakhstan's Association of Hunting Bird Owners.
"A person has to be wise to deal with a large, wild animal like an eagle. You have be tough and patient. That's why there are so few eagle-hunters. Many people want to be, but then realise it's not for them," he said.
Ancient sport
With help from the United Nations, the berkutchi of Nura have built a small museum where they display photographs showing the history of Kazakh eagle-hunting, and examples of the handicrafts connected to the sport - tough leather gloves, the leather hoods used to cover the eagles' eyes to keep them calm, and wrist supports needed to carry a bird weighing up to five kilograms in the saddle for long periods of time.
Visitors can now spend a day in Nura, visiting the museum and going out with the hunters.
Afterwards they are treated to a meal of traditional rice and meat plov, and one of the berkutchi will sing Kazakh hunting songs, accompanying himself on the dombra, a sort of two-stringed Kazakh lute.
Aldebergen Shalipov lives in a village behind the mountains. He took up eagle-hunting five years ago, and now spends the winter hunting season in Nura, working with Isabekov.
"When I was a child," he said, "I used to go hunting on foot with dogs, but I always dreamed of holding an eagle in my hands. My grandfather was a berkutchi, so when I grew up I took up eagle-hunting. Now my eldest son also hunts with eagles, and my youngest son hunts with hawks."
Historians say that hunting with birds of prey probably began in the Central Asian steppe centuries ago, when men began using the birds to catch hares and foxes for food.
It has long been a favoured sport of Central Asian rulers, Isabekov said.
"We know from history that Genghis Khan had 1,000 hunting birds - eagles, falcons and gyrfalcons - and so did Kubla Khan. There were protected areas in the steppe marked with stones where only the khans were allowed to hunt," he said.
Today the UN and the Kazakh environmental authorities hope to make use of the berkutchis' skills to help protect Kazakhstan's endangered eagle population.
All recognised berkutchis have to be trained in the proper care of their eagles, and they now help the authorities to keep track of eagles' nesting sites across this huge country.
Traditionally, wild baby eagles were taken from the nest to be trained as hunting birds, but under new legislation this practice will be strictly limited.
I thought this was a cool article. No other reason for the post.
It is a cool article; thanks for posting.
Outstanding article. Beautiful birds.
I think the whole thing is amazing.
I can drive north from my place outside of Detroit on either I-75 or I-94 and literally count 1 hawk per mile.......usually they are red tails or coopers.
A number of years ago I went north skiing to Collingwood in Canada with a buddy and as soon as I started pointing out to him the hawks, he was non stop all the way north "OOH, theres another one, lookit!" LOL!
On several trips to Kansas after flying into Missouri and driving across the state of KS, I as absolutely amazed at the numbers of raptors sitting along the fence posts, even bald eagles. Given the flatness of the state and the lack of trees over the prairie lands, they have nothing else to perch on. Really cool sights!
That top picture is truly amazing!
After that I was hooked.
Thanks for posting this. Very cool article.
I've been pretty lucky in being able to see such a number of nature's finest predators in action.....
When my family drives from Lufkin to Baytown,Texas, there is a stretch of road between DAyton and BAytown where my daughter and I have a raptor spotting contest. Lots of Red Tailed Hawks and American Kestrels.
About 1 week ago my daughter was in her room and heard a loud bang on her window and looked out and there on the ground was a Sharp shinned hawk and a female cowbird. They were both addled. I went out and the hawk was much less responsive than the bleeding cowbird. The cowbird collected itself and flew off, but the sharp shin was in bad shape. So I put him atop a small table on our porch and left him alone. I came out about 1 hour later and he was still there but he was standing on both feet. So I decided to put him in small apple tree in our yard. He stayed there all day and night. The next morning I approached him and he let me get about 8-10 feet from him and he took off and flapped in a coordinated manner and then soared. He flew about 100 yards and I thought he was going to land in an oak tree but he went down in our blackberry patch out back. Later that day I went to look for him but could not find him. I am hopeful he is o.k. because he appeared to be neurologically intact. His flight was coordinated. His landing was not where Sharp shinned hawks normally land unless they are after prey. It was an absolutely beautiful bird. He is a small hawk but his talons are about 3/4 inch in length and sharp as needles. When I carried him to the apple tree he sunk them into my finger and brought blood. In the early fall and and all summer we have a red tailed hawk that stays on our place and I really think he shows himself when we work out in the yard. SHe will soar above our yard and screams at us. She had a nest about 250 yards from the house, but we never saw the babies.
Charles McCarry has a tale about eagle hunting built into the plot of "Old Boys", his latest spy novel. Pretty congenial read for most freepers I should think, if you enjoy such things.
I first read of his books in an article by PJ O'Rourke in a recent Atlantic Monthly. Many of the books are out of print, hard to find and expensive to buy. This one is new and (relatively) inexpensive. His books are widely available in CT libraries and likely most other locations as well. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the very neat post, I really enjoy such.
Except for the blankety blank PC garbage, I found the History Channel's, "Siberia, How The East Was won" facinating.
Ditto that here in Pennsylvania. One time, on an approx. 10 mile stretch of Interstate 80 in Columbia County, I counted 19 hawks, and that's just along the highway! (probably Red Taileds).
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