Talon and Bark
Falconry
Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
What do you offer?
We offer a number of falconry experiences featuring our team of free flying birds of prey. You can see all of our experiences in the "Experiences and Services" pages of our website. For your first visit, we generally suggest starting with a One Hour Falconry or Owl Experience, but please check out all we offer to see what you are interested in from photography sessions to parties with our birds!
Where are you located?
At this time, we do not have a "home base" but rather rent two different properties depending on which falconry session you are booking. The properties are both located about 20 to 25 minutes outside of Sudbury near Chelmsford, Ontario. We do not give out the address information until after the session is booked to protect the property owners' privacy.
What happens if the weather is bad?
With our sessions all running outside, we are at the mercy of the weather. For many of our programs, we are able to run a modified version of the program indoors. If there is high winds, thunderstorms or heavy rain in the forecast, we contact you the day before to confirm if you wish to run a modified program indoors (if applicable), or to work out a back-up date with you.. It is your responsibility to tell us if the back-up date we booked does not work for your schedule.
Are you open all year?
Due to the outdoor nature of our experiences, we are open seasonally from April to November, weather permitting. We make sure to post if we must adjust our opening and closing date due to poor weather conditions.
We hope to expand in the future to include an indoor partially heated flight chamber so we can offer experiences all year!
We are open for educational sessions, parties and static displays all year.
On what days do you book experiences, and what times are the sessions?
We are open and book falconry experiences Wednesday to Monday. We are closed on Tuesdays.
Our summer falconry sessions run at 9:00 am or 10:30 am. Owl experiences run at 7:00 pm during the summer months.
Our spring and fall falconry sessions start between 3:30 pm and 7:00 pm to allow for after work/school visits. The exact start time varies slightly depending on when you book to ensure we are done before sunset as the sun sets steadily earlier.
The calendars on the booking page show which times are available for you to book.
What is the maximum group size that I can book for a session?
Our mixed group One Hour Falconry Experience is limited to a maximum of 6 people and our private programs are limited to a maximum of 10 people, though we are able to discuss the option to bring more. Some of the experiences we offer are less than that due to the nature of the session and these are outlined in their descriptions, for example the Owl Experience and the Hawk Walk are both limited to 4 to 5 people maximum.
How old must you be to participate?
For safety, we require children to be ages 8 or over to handle a bird of prey in most of our sessions. Children who are younger than that may come along as a spectator and watch the birds fly and ask questions. We may also ask children who are between 8 to 10 years old but shorter than 3.5 feet tall to sit out of flying with some of our bigger birds for safety.
Our exceptions to this are our Owl Experience where children must be ages 13+, and our Family Falconry experience, where the birds are not flown to guests but rather we have an interactive learning experience with the birds and hands-on table.
Payment Questions
What forms of payment do you accept?
We can accept e-transfer or credit card through Paypal at this time. We no longer accept cash on the day of the experience outside of special exceptions, and are not set up to take credit cards over the phone.
We require payment in full to reserve your date, and have a detailed booking and cancellation policy that can be viewed by clicking here
Are there any additional fees when booking the programs?
To simplify booking and help more people join us, the prices listed on the program pages are all inclusive so you will not have any additional fees unless you are paying with a credit card through PayPal*. For example, booking 2 adult group spots for a One Hour Falconry costs a total of $120.00 (60.00 x 2). We hope this helps people better plan which program they wish to book!
Other additional fees that could be applied to your program total are kilometer fees for off-site programs, booking extra time for special requests or those outlined specifically for programs such as program spectators or extra participants for bigger events. These additions are discussed with you prior to your invoice being processed.
* Please note, regretfully there is a 4% administrative fee for credit card payments to cover the charges from the credit card companies. We highly recommend, if at all possible, to use E-transfer to avoid this fee.
How long are gift certificates valid for?
Gift certificates for specific experiences (offered prior to 2025) are valid for a period of 2 years from the date of purchase.
Gift certificates with a set value amount (for example $50.00) will never expire and can be applied toward the cost of your program at any time.
Bird of Prey Questions
Where are your birds from? Are they rescues from the wild?
Our birds were all bred in captive breeding programs by falconers licensed with the MNRF. They were bred for use in falconry and for educational purposes. None of our birds were from the wild.
I found a young bird of prey on the ground. What do I do?
Birds of prey go through a phase of growth called "branching" when they are fledging and learning to fly. They often end up falling to the ground. The best thing to do is keep an eye on them for a few hours as mom and dad will still feed them and they can often get back up into a tree on their own.
Only step in to help if you do not see the parents return for multiple hours, or the chick is in an area that is very dangerous for it (ex. near a busy highway). To do this, contact your closest licensed wildlife rehabilitator and let them know you found the bird. They may send someone to collect it, or may ask you to deliver it to their facility.
Sudbury's closest licensed wildlife rehabilitator is Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre and their phone number is 705-691-0433
If you have other questions not listed above, please don't hesitate to contact us to inquire!