8. Which birds of prey are used for falconry?

Your state laws govern which birds are available to you apart from the federal selection.
California allows the below listed to be taken from the wild:

  1. Accipiters: Northern Goshawk, Cooper's hawk, Sharpshinned hawk
  2. Buteos: Red Tailed, ferruginous hawk Falcons: Merlin, Kestrel, Prairie falcon
  3. Owls: Great horned.
California allows captive bred raptors to be used in falconry. These may be purchased in CA or imported, with some paperwork, from another state or country. Any other species that is legal to own, is legal for falconry in CA; again, to hunt you must have appropriate hunting licenses.

Captive bred birds such as peregrines and gyrfalcons may be purchased from licensed raptor breeders. Some also crossbreed raptors in an attempt to get the best qualities of each species into one bird. Thus you have things like merlegrins, pere-prairies, gyr-prairies, etc.

--Andrea Chen

The federal regulations state that only master falconers may take or possess golden eagles and only then with written permission from the US. Fish & Wildlife Service department.

Northwoods Limited carries advertisements for captive bred falcons, hawks, and eagles. You should be able to find every species as well as hybrids in their catalog.

Exotic (non-native) raptors may be possessed by anyone, falconry license notwithstanding. However, the rules governing flying and hunting with them are less clear.